Look Where Lost

Look Where Lost

April 23, 2018

Luke 15:8  "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?"

There is a parable in the Bible of a woman who lost a coin. She searched the house high and low, cleaning it, sweeping every corner of the house until she could find it. When she found the coin she rejoiced greatly, obviously because it was of value to her. While the parable is in reference to the rejoicing in Heaven when a lost sinner repents, the parable has other applications. The woman looked for the coin in her house because that is the last place she remembers having it; that was where it got lost. A sinner is lost, not in heaven, but on earth in his sin. Wherever you lose something, that is the first place you are to look if you intend to find it. The last place you remember having it is the first place you look.

Consider the parallel into other things you may have had in your Christian life that you have lost. Just like you are to the Lord like the coin was to the woman, so you too have things of value to your Christian life. Maybe you had joy once, and lost it. Maybe you had peace once, and lost it. The first place to look for it was the last place you remember having it. For me, peace is easily lost. I get caught up in the business of life, in the pulls and demands of my family and responsibility (even though they are good gifts from the Lord). I can lose myself in them too easily and get caught up in energy of it all. It distracts me and before I know it, I've lost my peace. If I follow the parable in the Bible, I'll look for it the last place I remember having it, in the place I likely lost it. For me, the last place I ever remember having peace is resting in the Lord's presence. I've been there before, and I know you have, too. I have to go back to the last place I had it.

Some of you haven't heard the voice of the Lord in a long time, and think He has been quiet. I would submit to you that you need to go back to the last place you heard His voice. That would either be through reading His word, or going deep into prayer. If you are missing your joy, think of the last time you had it? This is joy, not circumstantial happiness, so think long and hard. Likely, the times you had in the past, experiencing joy, was in service to the Lord, doing His will. If you don't have joy right now, maybe you are serving yourself and not the Lord. Whatever it is of value, that you've lost, it is time to search high and low for it. It can be found. And when you find it, rejoice just like the woman who lost her coin, telling others.

When you rejoice and share your excitement with others, it is an encouragement to them, who may have lost something, too. We all lose things from time to time; it is part of the human condition. Think long and hard, though, making sure you are missing it. It is that deep longing, the recognition of its value, that motivates you into getting it back. It takes word to get it back, that's for sure, but well worth it when things are right in your world.

Don't take my word for it; look it up: Is 55:6-7, Jeremiah 29:13, Matt 13:45-46, Luke 15:8-15