41. Baaah....

Today, I will take a little break and hash out the passage we discussed at theWeekend retreat with theHouse this weekend. It was pretty challenging.

The Story of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:4-7):

The story goes that Jesus was responding to the religious big shots' bickering about him loving the lost and hanging out with sinners. He didn't answer their bickering directly (as he hardly ever does - he's pretty good at knowing the real answer and the real miracle we need, despite our clueless questions and requests), but he simply asked a deeper question that, not only challenged the pharisees and religious scholars, but it challenged me to be more intentional in going after the lost and being more pumped up about it when they are finally found.

Jesus says, "Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue."

At the retreat, we took a moment to sit with God and this passage on Saturday morning, and I really feel like God highlighted a part of this passage like so:

"Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors...."

I'm not sure exactly what this entails practically, but I'm pretty sure God was saying, if you want to make a difference - if you want to reach the lost, you have to get out of your comfortable circle, your scheduled events in your planned atmosphere, and go out to them. Lost people don't just show up out of nowhere. If you lose something, it's not going come over to you and say, "Here I am!" No, it's lost. You have to go out of your way to find it. It's inconvenient and sometimes very frustrating, but you know as well as I do, and like Christ said Heaven does, when the lost is found, there's a party!

I want to brace myself for the going after so that I can have a reason to celebrate in the end!