…What would you do if you had one hundred sheep and one of them wandered off? Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go look for the one that had wandered away? I am sure that finding it would make you happier than having the ninety-nine that never wandered off. That’s how it is with your Father in heaven…
Matthew 18:12-14 (CEV)
So we know that this is a picture of how Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and how He’ll come find us when we stray, and how heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents, and all that.
So I want to focus on our part.
When we’re not the ones straying and He’s trying to rescue that wandering sheep, do we care? Do we want Him to?
Are we right there beside Him, looking, worrying, loving? Do we weep over the lost and pray for their salvation; and when and if it finally happens, do we rejoice and accept them into the family?
Maybe we don’t personally know that lost sheep. Maybe they did a lot of bad things. Maybe they’ll never enter the safety of the fold.
But should that affect our love for them? Should that stop us from praying for them and reaching out to those we know?
What if they come to know Jesus because of your prayers, your “interference” in their lives, your love for them? What if it’s because of the tears you shed that they see their need for the loving Savior? What if it’s something you say that helps them see the light?
“What would you do…?”
