The Lost Sheep

• How would you respond to someone who said, “If there is a God, he’s too busy to care about our lives”?

• How do you know God cares about you personally?

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?”
Matthew 18:12

If you had 100 sheep, and one of them wandered off, would you search for it? If you look at the sheep as one big flock, you probably wouldn’t. The loss of one from a flock that big would be barely noticeable. Holding on to 99 percent of your sheep probably makes you a decent shepherd. You would probably be proud to put that on your résumé.

But Jesus isn’t just a decent shepherd; he is the Good Shepherd. And he doesn’t look at his sheep as one big flock; he sees them as individuals. When one wanders off, it’s not just a tiny fraction of the group; it’s a specific sheep that he knows and cares about. So he drops everything to go find the lost sheep and bring it home.

We should be glad that the Good Shepherd cares so much because each of us was once that lost sheep. Jesus made it his priority to find us and save us.

Now that we’re part of the flock, we should adopt the attitude of our Shepherd. We should make it a priority to help bring other lost “sheep” to Christ. What can we do as a family to share the good news of Christ with others?

PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for not being content with 99 sheep. Thank you for caring enough to search for us when we’re lost and bring us back to you. Amen.