Another newspaper article for the LaSalle NewsTribune...

Today is an in between chapters devotional and Monday we will go onto Proverbs 30.  You get to read or listen to the article that will come out on Friday, the 20th, in the NewsTribune.  I am thinking I will double up with this and make a radio broadcast about it so you might hear and read it a few times.

Who is Reading This?

It is a difficult task to write an article for the paper because you don’t know exactly who your audience is.  Yes, in general, it is the subscribers to the paper edition and Internet followers and mostly of people who live in the Illinois Valley but past that, who reads the religion column on Fridays?

 It could be some who go to houses of worship on a regular basis and they look forward to this column each week.  It is a “little Sunday” before Sunday arrives in a couple of days.  Maybe they read it because that is what Christians do to increase their knowledge of God and His word or to get a Christian perspective on some recent national happenings.

Some who don’t go to church on a regular basis could also read this.  Maybe the catchy title drew them in to stop and to start to read; maybe it is a way to feel a little more religious by reading something of a religious nature; or maybe it is someone who is really looking for an answer to something that is going on in their life that they don’t have an answer for.

I would like to think that I write for the “1” over the “99.”  What do I mean by that phrase?  Jesus told a parable, a story with a spiritual meaning, in Luke 15:4-7.

“What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?  When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’  I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.”

The flock of sheep was 100 but now it is 99.  1 of the sheep has wandered away.  1 of them is lost and not in company of the others.  The shepherd does the unthinkable and leaves the 99, the gross majority, who have the company of each other and sets out find that 1 for the sole purpose of bringing him or her back to the 99 so he again has 100.  Why would a shepherd do this?  There must be affection for the sheep from the shepherd.  Each 1 of them must mean so much to him that he would set off on this quest and the parable ends with great rejoicing when that 1 is found and brought home. 

Jesus lets us in on the meaning of this parable at the very end.  Simply put, we are the sheep and He is the shepherd.  Some of us are actively under Jesus’ care, the 99, but there are others who have wandered off, the 1.  They have stopped putting themselves in a place to hear the shepherd’s voice and receive his care.  For some reason those who were once in the flock are absence from it but know this lost sheep, Jesus, the Shepherd, is out looking for you.  He is calling out your name and because He is God, He knows exactly where you are.  The question is, “Will you allow the shepherd to grab you again?”  The sheep must allow the shepherd to pick him or her up and to be carried back to the flock.  The sheep must submit to the shepherd’s care once again. 

Maybe many who read this will see themselves in the analogy of the lost sheep and the shepherd.  You once were among the flock but you have wandered away for some reason and maybe you can’t even remember why.  When you see Jesus, because by this parable He is out looking for you, let yourself be picked up by Him.  Let this article show you that Jesus has a great love for you and wants you to be under His direct care.  He has not forgotten about you or said in concession, “Well 99 out of 100 isn’t that bad!”  Jesus is all about the 1 and that could be you.  Thanks for reading!  

Let us pray:  "Lord, help us to see Your love for each one of us.  Help us to keep within the flock and be under Your direct care.  May we follow Your example and go to the lost with Your care to and for them.  Amen."

Pastor Adam