Monday

“Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.”

Read Luke 15:8-9.

My older daughter is not terribly attached to her possessions. She certainly likes her toys, but operates with an “easy come, easy go” sort of mentality. Just the other day she was bemoaning the loss of a piece of costume jewelry she received for her last birthday. When I recommended we start searching for it in likely places she said, “It’s ok mommy. We’ll just buy another one.”

I try to instill a sense of responsibility in my girls. I do not automatically replace items that are lost or broken, despite her comment’s implication to the contrary. But, fact of the matter is, we live in a disposable society, many of us with disposable income. I find it can be hard to think about the intensity of searching that the woman with the coins engaged in, in order to find the one missing coin. Maybe that’s because if I drop a quarter or a dime, I only make a vague attempt to look for it.

But changing this story to percentages and putting ourselves in her shoes, we can imagine this: losing 10% of our entire net worth (in a way that can be found again, not, say, in the stock market). You’d better believe we’d be looking for that and I’m pretty sure I’d be telling everyone that I’d found it. In this same way, Jesus tells us in verse 10 of Luke 15 that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents. This speaks of the breadth of God’s grace and the depth of God’s caring about us as individuals. Spreading the Good News really matters. -AB

Lord, remind us to spread the Good News of you to all the earth, and to our neighbor. Remind us that though we cannot reach everyone, we can reach someone beside us. Give us eyes to see as you do. Amen.