Luke 15:8-10 – “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coinsand loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

In the story of the lost coin, the coin didn’t lose itself. A woman who had ten silver coins lost one. Was she so busy she forgot where she’d placed it? Did she trip, spilling all her coins onto the floor, where one rolled out of sight? Did an addiction cause her to gamble away a part of her money—and then even more, in a desperate attempt to win it back?

Some people are lost not because of something they willfully did, but because of a place they fell into or circumstances beyond their control. They are lost because of the words of an insensitive teacher, the neglect of an absent parent, the malice of an abuser. Maybe they’ve been abducted by a trafficker who sees them not as persons but as commodities to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. In any case, the lost are people who have lost their purpose, their potential, perhaps even their destiny

…The onemay be someone who has lived a life of crime that has landed him in jail.The onemay be someone who has willfully hurt another.The onemay be selfish, addicted, immoral, and arrogant. He or she may be a mocker, scoffer, murderer, or prostitute. If our example is Jesus, we should remember that he stood up for a woman caught in adultery, a greedy, dishonest tax collector, and the thief hanging on the cross next to him. Jesus didn’t distinguish between those lost because of circumstances beyond their control and whose who willfully and willingly put themselves there.

God’s heart beats for every lost person every single second of every single day. That’s what he wants us to remember. We, too, were once lost, but now we are found. And because we’ve been found, he has called us to be part of his search-and-rescue team. Are you willing to take the light God brought to you to illuminate your own rescue, to others? Carrying the light is the only reason God would send you back into the dark.
(Taken from Christine Caine’s devotional, The Lost Coin.)

Let’s praise and thank God for his compassion and mercy. Let’s pray for ourselves and our churches for Jesus’ overflowing compassion as we live in his calling.

-AP