Seeking the Lost   

Luke 15 is likely best known for the parable of the lost son. But before Jesus talked about the son, He talked first about two other things that were lost: a lost sheep and a lost coin. Both are valuable; both have real monetary value. And because they have value, nobody would just ignore such a loss. Even the scribes and Pharisees would acknowledge the need to search and find something with great value.
When you lose something that has great value, you do whatever you can to find it. And then you rejoice when that which was lost has been found! But Jesus wasn’t really talking about lost sheep and lost coins, was He? Jesus was talking about something with much more value. He was talking about lost people, about people who are spiritually lost, about people who are lost and desperately need to be saved.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden and messed up their perfect fellowship with God, they were in essence running away from God. But God had already determined a plan by which He would seek after them in order to be reconciled with them.
Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” Ephesians 3:11 says it was God’s eternal plan that He would one day send His Son to this earth to die for the sins of all mankind.
Despite the sin in our lives, God still wants to pursue us and have a relationship with us. That was what the Pharisees could not understand: why would God want to have any relationship with sinners? You and I know today, and we rejoice in knowing, that God loves us so much that He sent His Son to seek and to save those who are lost.
May I also suggest another application of what Jesus said? Yes, I do believe this passage is primarily about how GOD responds and searches for the lost. But I believe that this passage can also be understood to refer to how WE as Christians ought to respond and search to find those who are lost.
Shouldn’t we respond to people who are lost in the same way—or even in a greater way—than we would to find things that are lost? Shouldn’t we have the same desire, and exhibit the same efforts in searching for them? Shouldn’t we be like God in wanting to seek and save the lost? Indeed we should, and so also will we be filled with great joy when the lost have been found and saved.

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