Lost and Found

8 “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? 9 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.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10)

If you have ever lost something, I'm sure some of you know the feelings of desperation, urgency and angst you get into when you're hopelessly searching for the item. You go through a roller coaster of emotions. I usually start the ride calm and collected, and as time goes on, and I become a little more frustrated, I transform. My searching becomes more and more desperate, as I become upset and slightly crazed. Prayers come rushing out of my mouth, following the lines of, "Lord please please please please please PLEAAAASSSSSUH, help me to find _______. It's really important to me. I know you know where it is, just point me in the right direction PLEASEEEE." 

This happened to me the other week. I had "lost" (misplaced) my precious gear ring. I frantically searched high and low, blurting out many prayers of desperation, determined to find it. It's a $170 ring, and a gift from my best friend, so of course I want to find it. I also like to believe I have given myself slight OCD, so if something is on my mind that I've lost, I have to find it RIGHT NOW, and I'll drop whatever important thing I'm doing just to find the object in that instant. I'll admit, it's a problem better left to discuss for another time. 

Pretty much what I was doing.

As I rabidly searched around my room, the parable of the lost coin kept prodding my mind. I kept thinking, "Yeah yeah, this is like the woman who lost her coin and looked for it until she found it. And when she found it, she was uber happy and told everyone. The difference is, I haven't found my ring yet and I've looked EVERYWHERE. God, WHY? Please just please help me to find it. It's important to me.." My patience was at its absolute limit. I went back to look in the place where I put all my rings and jewelry, and it was in a bag, hanging from my necklace stand. Relief. Rejoicing. Praise. Humility. 

I always go through this cycle. I lose something, I search and go crazy, then I am humbled because I was again, freaking out for nothing. Now that I had found my precious possession, I sat down to think about why the parable of the lost coin was relevant, aside from the situations being the same. 

I know a lot of "lost" people. I know a lot of people who aren't Christians, or people who came to faith and just dropped it later in life because they felt they didn't need God, or somehow came to believe that He doesn't exist. I thought about them, and I thought about how desperately I had been praying to find my ring. I honestly pray more intensely, urgently and fervently for lost objects than I do for my lost friends. Sad, no?

The lost people in our lives are more precious, and surely more worthy of our prayers than the objects we may lose on a regular basis. If I put so much effort into searching for a ring, and making sure God hears my pleas for my ring to be found, should I not put in more effort into making sure that I lift up my lost friends, and minister to them with as much intensity? 

A very important attitude for a servant of God is labouring love. To me that is practiced in seeking out and loving the lost with great passion and fervor. And when the lost are found, the Master rejoices.