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Luke 15 is a response from Jesus to the religious leaders criticizing Him for spending too much time with sinners. Sadly, we have gone to another extreme today and spent more time with other religious people instead of trying to reach the lost people that God brings into our lives.
Jesus gives three stories to help the religious people refocus on the purpose of being a follower of Jesus. In Luke 15, we see the Lost Sheep, The Lost Silver Coin, and the Lost Son!
In Luke 15: 8-10, Jesus tells us: “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp, sweep the entire house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin. In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Jesus tells the story of a woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them. This woman lights the lamp and begins to clean the house, sweep it, and search carefully until she finds it. Coins were valuable, and that was how people survived.
We see this woman was desperate to find that lost coin. How desperate are we to find lost people and lead them to Jesus? How many of us have family and friends that need Jesus? We need to go looking for them! If so, why are we not desperate to see them come to Christ?
This woman was persistent! She was not going to give up until she found that lost coin. We need to be persistent in reaching lost people. This needs passion and persistence if we are going to find lost people.
This woman was focused! She was not going to give up until she found that lost coin. Everywhere we go, some people are lost, but we need to search for them, look for them, build relationships with them, and be focused on them and not ourselves! We need to be focused on the purpose of reaching lost people.
When she finds the coin, she throws a party because she found that lost coin!
Then Jesus says these words: “In the same way, there is joy in heaven when even one sinner repents.” If all of heaven rejoiced when one person repents and gets saved, shouldn’t this be the priority of the Church and every true follower of Jesus?
My prayer is to help me to be as intentional in reaching lost people as we would be about finding a lost coin!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Pastor Ronald Squibb has been the Lead Senior Pastor of the International Christian Church (ICC) at Staten Island, New York, since 2011. He draws many experiences from his over 40 years as a pastor and significant emotional life experiences.
His new book, Following the Journey with Jesus, which he co-authored with Daniel McNaughton, was recently published and is getting rave reviews. His daily devotional appears in this publication.
