Light, Sweep, and Seek

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so,I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:8-10

So we know this passage as The Parable of the Lost Coin. In the literal, we can relate to this passage so well! Just this morning, I lost something precious to me, and I started to panic. The woman in this parable, she didn't collapse in a chair crying hysterically. She got some better light, swept, and sought diligently.

If we relate this parable to lost souls, then what are we doing?

The woman lit a lamp. Jesus is the light of the world. He shows the way clearly. Use Him when you're looking.

The woman swept the house. The thing about sweeping, there is always dirt, and there is always random stuff you didn't expect to find. A button, an earring. We save those things, and we get rid of the junk. Ask God to save save that precious person, get rid of the junk in their heart, and get rid of any junk in us, so we can truly help them.

The woman sought diligently. Jesus never gives up on someone. Sometimes when we can't find something, we give up. We stop looking and that item is covered with dust and filth under the dresser. I've started trying to ask God to help me find whatever it is that I am trying to find instead of panicking and being defeated. When I don't, when I give into the mess, the darkness, and the weariness, when I give up, then I don't find it. No matter what you do or who you are, we all have the ministry, the calling, the responsibility to help seek and save the lost. Never give up.

The Parable of the Lost Coin isn't just a literal example, and it isn't just telling us what God does, it is an example of what we are supposed to do. Light, sweep, and seek.

---Joy