Most stores have a lost and found department. It’s usually the last attempt to find a lost possession. We go there hoping that some kind, honest person has turned our lost item in. I call Luke chapter 15 the lost and found chapter. There resides three stories of things lost, one about a little lost sheep, one out of a hundred. “Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” One of the most beautiful poems I have ever found was written by a lady by the name of Ethel M.C. Brazelton entitled, “POOR LIL’ BRACK SHEEP”. It depicts a conversation between a shepherd and his hired servant , the “hirelin”.
Picture God in your mind…
If you’re like most of the people I’ve asked, you probably thought of some combination of a man in a gray beard floating on a throne in the clouds or a scowling judge glaring down from his judgment bench. Both are totally wrong. God has a presence in the world today, and how we see Him will determines how we see ourselves and how we see others.
Before we can establish how to see God today we need to explore how he was seen in the past. Bible accounts paint a picture of a God who made himself visibly present; initially for His benefit an eventually for ours.
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day….” (Gen 3:8 NIV). I love to imagine what it was like in the garden of God when He physically walked among and enjoyed the beauty of his creation. To think about enjoying the presence of my creator in the unsurpassed beauty of his newly created earth is overwhelming to me.
In the garden that day Adam and Eve could not be found because they were hiding from God. They knew they had disobeyed and were ashamed of themselves and their appearance. This was the moment that separated us from God, but also set into motion a plan to redeem his creation and reestablish the perfection of His dwelling place. From that moment on God manifested Himself in various forms.
Recently I discovered a wonderful poem entitled “ The Universal Prayer” by Alexander Pope. In the tenth stanza Pope writes:
“Teach me to feel another’s woe, To hide the fault I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.”
Perhaps Pope was inspired by Luke chapter 18 which mirrors his poem.
“ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ’God I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God” ( Luke 18: 9-13 NIV)
We should be very careful how we interact with our fellow travelers, for we are interacting with the personification of Jesus. How we treat others is how we treat Jesus. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col. 3:13).
Weighed in the Balances
By Lou David Allen
He fed the hungry,
Visited the sick,
Gave his money,
For a great cause.
But warm works
Came from a cold heart,
That would not
Forgive the sins of another,
And so he barely registered
On the Angelic Applause – O – Meter.
“And he measured its wall,
seventy-two yards, according to
human measurements, which are also
angelic measurements.
Rev 21:17
