by Rod Marshall
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10(ESV)
One of the things that have to be done by me at work is to reunite the USB flash memory storage sticks with their owners, usually tired and forgetful students.
Sometimes there is no identification on them anywhere to be found. Then, we are reliant on the student to realize they have lost it, and they have to come and seek it out from the collection of other orphaned USB’s here in our office.
Some students come here straight away all in a fluster, because they know their loss: a USB stick which has the only copy of their dissertation, or latest assignment saved on it! Sometimes students are just unaware that they have lost it, until I send them an email!
I have looked upon this pile of USB’s, which sit here uncollected, labeled with their owner’s names, and wondered. As I contact students to let them know we have their USB stick, when they were not aware of it, so in some way, Jesus wants to connect with those whose lives are not safe in Jesus. Possibly, they may never have had the opportunity to hear the story of God’s Love for them, or even have been aware that they are listed in heaven as: missing in action!
Peace and reconciliation in Jesus is profound, and those of us already in the Kingdom may be lured to take it for granted, and yet Jesus, as He reveals in the parable above, will not give up until He finds them, or us. Finally, when they wake up to His searching them out, the rejoicing in heaven will start as the Holy Spirit flows!
Jesus treasures the unsaved, or wayward, their uniqueness and all they are, and we may be called today to bring them His Word of Hope. Sometimes it is the most worldly successful that need to hear His word the most!
PRAYER: LORD, thank You for not leaving us here to be unwanted, collecting dust. Enable us to play our part in bringing the Good News of Jesus to those who presently may not know they are being diligently sought out by Your Love for them.
We rejoice with praise and worship as You chose to reach out through us, to bring a message of reunion with God, in Jesus’ name, amen.
You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2010/10/27/rm_reclaimed/
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