God is searching for you!

In Luke chapter 15 we find these profound stories about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. First of all, Jesus share all three stories in a row. No story is more or less important, but all the stories are telling us that God’s love reaches out! Really the heart of Jesus’ message was: God loves and pursues the lost. The lost sheep: The parable of the lost sheep tells us that God’s love reaches out, God’s love seeks! It tells us that God never gives up on us! Jesus said “I came to seek and to save that which is lost”. That’s why Jesus told us that God is like a shepherd, that had a hundred sheep but lost one of them, so he left the ninety-nine to go after the lost, until he found it. Never do we read that the shepherd seeks for the sheep one day, a week or a month, and if he don’t find it, he gives up. God will seek until he finds what he is looking for! He will never give up on you! Maybe God has been looking for you many years and you have never surrendered your life to him? Listen, he will never give up on you, he is right there waiting for you to turn to him! I’m not using the the word “lost” as a derogatory word. Being lost just simply means “something valuable is missing”. How do you know if you’re lost? Eph. 2:12-13 “at that time you were without Christ… having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” If you haven’t received God’s expression of his love through Jesus’ death on the cross, you are lost. You are alienated from God, not because God does not want you, but because you think you don’t want God. You are so valuable in the eyes of God that God gave his most precious gift to you, salvation, healing and blessing through Jesus. If you haven’t received that gift, you are lost. You’re not lost because you’re less valuable or good as a person. How good of a person you are, has nothing to do with it. It’s a matter of receiving the goodness of God. You don’t have the power of changing your value, because you are priceless to God! The prodigal son: In this story we can read that the prodigal son had been out wasting his money on riotous living but decided to go back home to his father and ask him for forgiveness. His father received him just like he was, unconditional to what he has done. What did the father do? The father ran towards him when he saw him from afar and hugged him and kissed him. God not only seeks the lost, but he saves the lost, which means he receives the lost! Jesus said “the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast him out”. No one is excluded from God’s love! You’re not excluded but, you’re included in God’s love plan! Before the foundations of this world, God called you! He thinks about you, and he has a plan to make you prosper you and give you hope! Somehow, we have this assumption that God turns his back on us when we mess up, but Jesus came to tell us the opposite, that he pursues and embraces! Still we think that God takes distance from us when we sin, but he does not. We are the one that takes distance, we are the one who runs away, but God showed us even in the first chapters of the bible that God pursues us even if we are on the run from him. The lost coin: “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” No. 1 The woman lit a lamp - why? She was going to where it was dark. This is a picture of how God doesn’t shy away from darkness. He goes where it’s dark, he goes where it’s hopeless! He pursues! There’s no pit to deep for God to reach down and pull you up! There’s no situation you can find yourself in, that God can’t change! No. 2: The woman grabs a broom - why? She was going to where it was dirty. This is a picture of how God doesn’t shy away from our sin and uncleanness. Our sin is not stronger than God (Rom. 5:20). Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil! Death has no sting, hell has no victory (1 Cor. 15:55)! God wants everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4), so he embraces you when you least deserve it. He loves on you when you don’t love him. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance! Don’t think that your sin changes the way God thinks about you. You’re still loved and valuable! Let God bring you out of your hopelessness! Whatever situation you find yourself in right now, God is there for you! He will never leave you nor forsake you. God has an awesome plan for your life, just receive his goodness right now. Thank God for his love towards you and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. He will give you life in abundance!