So I have this routine. Every morning, I wake up, put on my robe and slippers, and pour a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. I then proceed to spend the next 15 minutes or so watching Headline News with Robin Meade who if I may say is not at all bad to look at as she welcomes me to her show with her famous line “morning sunshine.” It’s a good routine and I’m happy.
Two times this week I have heard the same reporter sharing news from Washington that apparently the recession that has recently plagued the American economy has technically ended. Now this is great news, so please do not take my next words as overly cynical, however, for most of us, if not all of us, times are still pretty tough. I was reminded of this just the other day when I heard someone making a note of all the “rescue” themed worship songs that have come out in the past few months; times are hard, and we desperately need to be rescued.
One day this week, shortly after I learned that the recession had ended, I stumbled onto one of Jesus’ parables and saw it in a way that I never had before. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a small crowd a story about a woman who had ten silver coins and lost one of them. Immediately, I thought about how I might feel today if I had lost any amount of money, regardless of how small. I would imagine that we would all do exactly what Jesus says this woman did, “light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she found it” (Luke 15:8 NRSV). Once the woman found her lost coin, Jesus tells us that she called out into the town inviting everyone to come and rejoice with her for finding her what she had lost. Jesus tells his group, that the same happens in heaven when one comes to God.
This story struck me this week because it seems so translatable to our economic situations today. If we lost something that provided for our lively hood, we would not rest until we had found it. Immediately I heard the Holy Spirit calling out through the words of Jesus that we are the lively hoods of God. Our heavenly Father loves us so much that when one of us are lost, or confused, or not living up to our full potential, the economy of heaven suffers. At this point, God, in his unquenchable love for us begins a thorough rescue and pursuit of us until we are united again with him.
This parable is uttered in almost the same breath as that of the lost sheep, which growing going to Sunday school was always used to reveal the heart of God for his flock. But for now, the idea that God needs us as his coin in which he accomplishes his work in this world reveals just how important we are to Him.
So today, are you lost? Confused? Not living up to your fullest potentials? Trust in the One who loves you so much that He has budgeted his entire kingdom on your worth and will not more forward until your path is found in Him.
“He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
Yeah, He loves us.” -John Mark Mcmillan
“Rejoice with Me, for I have found the coin that I had lost” (Luke 15:9) –Abba, Father, God
ACG
