Articles
The God Who Seeks the Lost
Reading: Luke 15:1-10
Jesus received plenty of criticism from the religious elites of his day for associating with tax collectors and sinners (vv. 1-2). In response to this, the Lord painted several pictures which reveal the heart of God for these people. He is not content to turn His back on His wayward creation, but earnestly yearns to restore each soul to Himself.
Leading up to the famous parable of the prodigal son, Jesus compares this heartfelt desire to a man seeking his lost sheep (vv. 3-7) and a woman seeking her lost drachma (vv. 8-10). Rather than writing them off as lost causes, God knows the value—and He feels the loss—of each soul that is separated from Him. Like the man who pursues the lost sheep, like the woman sweeping her house diligently, God seeks those who have cut themselves off from Him. This was nothing less than Jesus’s primary mission on this earth.
Don’t miss the application in verses 7 and 10. Heaven rejoices when a soul is restored to where it belongs, but it requires his or her repentance. God, in His goodness, pursues us—through divine providence and life’s circumstances, through His word, and through His people. But He doesn’t force reconciliation on us. Each of us must come to realize that living contrary to our Maker means we are utterly lost in sin. Repentance means we turn away from vain, worldly pursuits with a longing to be found by the Seeker. We cannot find our way home on our own, but praise be to God that His Son came to seek and save that which was lost.
