The One

“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:12-14 NKJV

Cory Asbury sings a song entitled “Reckless Love” and the chorus says:

“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah”

Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines the word reckless as “marked by lack of proper caution : careless of consequences”. And that gives me pause. Never in the history of my life, had I thought of God as reckless, but when I read that definition, when I think of Christ enduring the suffering of the cross, and know that He did it for all, but He’d also do it just for the one, there is very much a lack of care for the consequences in that. There is something very incautious about that.

We do not serve a careless Savior, but we serve a Savior who was “careless” about the consequences to Himself because He cared far more about saving us. Maybe you don’t think you’re worth saving. Maybe you don’t see your value. I’m here to tell you that you’re not just valuable, you’re the most valuable to Jesus. We all are.

The parable of the lost sheep is not one of a shepherd wandering through lush pastures looking for a sheep who may be slightly off the beaten path. No, it’s a picture of a shepherd leaving everything and heading into treacherous territory to seek that one sheep who has gone so far astray. It’s a picture of a shepherd desperate to not let go of even one. It’s the picture of a Savior willingly crucified and taking upon himself all the sins of mankind so that we do not have to suffer condemnation.

If ever you think, for even a millisecond, you don’t matter, look no further than Matthew 18. You are that sheep. You are that loved. You are never too far gone or too lost to be found. And all of heaven rejoices at your rescue.

Copyright 2019, Courtney G Davis, All Rights Reserved  

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