"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God." – Luke 15:8-10 (The Message)
Do you think God looks for you this way? Has God thrown a party for you yet? How hard is God looking for that person you think is no good? What does that mean about how you should treat that person?
A couple of days ago I was vacationing. It is always nice to vacation, but the last morning we were there suddenly I couldn’t find the key to the place we were staying, so I started looking.
Now perhaps you have also lost a key. You know that when it is found in the first five minutes you don’t think much about it. If you look for ten minutes before you find it, then you start to get a little excited about it. If you spend twenty minutes looking, by the time you find it perhaps you even shout out and have to tell someone.
I looked everywhere for this key. I went through every drawer, every piece of luggage, under beds, between cushions, under rugs, I moved the fridge, looked through bushes of every place I had walked the night before. It was nowhere! After two hours I was about to give up, but I couldn’t, I had to find it, so I pressed on. Finally I found it! And you what? I called people to tell them, I shouted out, I was ridiculously full of joy. I had no idea finding a key could give me so much joy.
How much more joy is in heaven when finally someone turns to God, when God finally finds someone who was lost? I can’t imagine. I was ready to have a party for a key. That person that bothers me, that rubs me the wrong way, that I can’t stand being around, that person is someone God would throw one epic party for, so maybe we should join God in the search. Or at the very least, enjoy the party.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
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