"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:8-10).
I gained a better appreciation of this parable from Jesus about 3 years ago. Janet, Christopher, and I were on vacation in Memphis, Tennessee. One afternoon, we decided to go swimming in our hotel's swimming pool.
Unfortunately, Janet forgot to take out her contact lenses. When she opened her eyes under the water, they were lost. For the next 45 minutes, Janet held Christopher (who was 2 years old at the time), while I went over every inch of the bottom of the swimming pool several times. We were 500 miles from home. Janet did not want to spend the next several days blind. She did not want to travel home without being able to see anything except blurry images. We were desperate to find those contacts! Finally, after the last contact was found (without damage), we rejoiced like the woman in Jesus' parable. We rejoiced like God and the angels when a sinner repents and turns to God.
The experience helped us to see how much value God places in people. As valuable as the contact lenses were to us, people are even more treasured by God. When we are saved, he parties. When anyone is saved, he parties. That's how much God loves people.
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2 comments:
Wow Terry! I'm impressed. I think I would have just called the doctor to call in a new script at Wal-Mart.
Great post, thought provoking.
Thanks, Mitchell! Unfortunately, it had been so long since she had had an eye exam that we had changed insurance and did not remember who the eye doctor was. Sometimes it can be difficult dealing with insurance and a doctor who wants to examine you again before issuing another prescription, so I thought that my best hope was to search the bottom of the swimming pool. Thankfully, it worked out.
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