You find some amazing things in lost and found.
It's really amazing what some people lose.
Some things are really nice.
Having kids, we always forget something.
It seems like we have lost a lot of possessions (and sometimes our minds ;) ).
When we get to go visit family and after we leave their house, they always call us up with something we left.
We stayed at our friends Mark and Sara's house the last time we were up in Michigan.
We left one of our set of keys up there.
Just recently we purchased a new set of pacifiers for Ty and now we can't find them.
We know they are in our house, but we have search everywhere for them and can't find them.
We lose things all the time.
Sometimes what we lose goes beyond our possessions.
Jesus tells us a story about two brothers.
One was a faithful son, always listened to his father and showed him respect.
The other, didn't care.
The other son wanted his inheritance so he could go out and live.
So the father allowed him to do this.
The son lived it up, did everything you could imagine that a young adult would do without any responsibilities and a lot of money.
Soon it was all gone.
There was a famine in the land and the son found himself with nothing.
It was bad, and he was starving.
It was to the point he went to work for a man feeding pigs.
All he wanted to do was eat what the pigs were given.
Imagine how low your life would have to go to want to eat the slop the pigs ate?
Finally he decided, the servants at my father's house live better than this.
He thought he could apologize and live his life as a servant at his father's house.
So he went back home.
Upon getting home and getting ready to apologize, the father saw him from a distance away.
Instantly, the father was filled with compassion, he ran to his son and embraced him.
He had a huge party for him and got him great clothes to wear again.
The obeying son was ticked.
He loved his father and listened to him but never had a party like this before.
He told him how his brother, gave away his inheritance to prostitutes and other awful things and he is treated like this now?
The father said this in Luke 15:31-32…
"My son," the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."
He was lost and now is found.
This is how God views us.
We can live without God, do everything wrong under the sun, but when we repent and turn towards him, he rejoices.
Jesus loves you.
Each and every one of you.
Does it mean he is happy with how we are living our lives sometimes?
No, but he still loves us.
Jesus loves me just as much as he loves someone who…
- murders someone else
- is a drunk
- is a prostitute or sleeps with prostitutes
- is homosexual
- goes on a killing spree.
Is Jesus happy with these things….NO!
But he still loves the people.
Jesus loves us and wants us to turn towards him.
Jesus gives us free will, we have a choice to do whatever we want.
To be a good father or to sleep around on our spouse.
We have the choice.
God isn't happy with some of the decision we make but he wants us to improve.
In the story the father rejoiced when his lost son came back.
Jesus rejoices when we turn away from the wrong in our lives and turn back towards God.
Are you ready to turn away from the wrong in your life and turn back towards God?
Have a great day.
