You Have Value

Over the last couple of blogs, we looked at the cure for the disease of sin and death, and then we looked at how we apply Jesus as the cure for this disease. Today I want to talk about why the God of creation would choose to die to give us this cure.  We see this in three parables that Jesus gave in Luke chapter 15.

You see, Jesus had a reputation for eating and hanging out with the less desirable, those society would call losers and sinners. In fact, those who considered themselves religious grumbled about it. To try and make people understand what He was about, Jesus begins to tell them of a lost sheep in verses 1-7. Jesus wanted them to know then and us to know today that God finds value in the man He has created. Why? I have no idea, but He does. He speaks of a shepherd who had one hundred sheep but lost one. The good shepherd goes out looking for that one. V. 5-6, “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” Notice the heart of the shepherd; he celebrates because he is not one to lose even one. Jesus makes it very clear that is how the Lord looks at us.

Let’s go on to the second parable of “The Lost Coin.” A woman had ten silver coins and lost one; she turned her house upside down to find that one. When she finds it, she calls all her friends to celebrate. Look at what Jesus says in verse 10, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Then we have the third parable of the “Prodigal Son.” The youngest son tells the father that he wants out, and he wants his inheritance. The younger son then goes and blows all his inheritance on worldly things. Jesus said that when he came to his senses, he remembered his father. The younger son went back expecting his father to treat him as a slave or maybe reject him altogether. But that didn’t happen; in fact, quite the opposite. The father had been watching and waiting for the return of his son, and when he finally saw him a way off, the father ran toward his prodigal son and wrapped his arms around him and restored him in his position once again in the family.

The truth to all these parables is that you and I are precious in the sight of God, and all He wants is for us to be found. On that day, Jesus said that there will be great rejoicing in heaven.