Ever Lost Something Important?

Awhile back, I saw an article about a new bride who accidentally flushed her $2000 diamond ring down the toilet. Her husband, who was still making payments on it was not about to let that one-carat diamond get away without a fight. He spent the whole night digging up the yard and tearing up the plumbing in search for that wedding ring.

By morning he realized that the ring was no longer in the plumbing of his house, so he called the water department. The city sent out its “Lost Diamond Crew” to look for the tiny, valuable rock. After installing a trap at a downstream manhole they flushed the pipe by sending a high pressure stream of water down the sewer line. Then one of the crew members crawled into the manhole and fished the diamond ring out of the sewage. What a relief. They found the ring.

You and I can probably identify with this story because most of us have probably at least temporarily lost something very valuable to us.

It is characteristic of Jesus’ teachings to take a familiar situation—like losing something valuable—and use that situation to teach us about God. That’s what he did with the 15th chapter of Luke.

Three times he uses stories of someone who lost something valuable (a sheep, a coin and a son) and the ensuing frantic search to tell us that God is a forgiving, loving,  searching God. These are stories about a God who never gives up on any of us. These are stories of a God who longs for us when we stray. This is a God who crawls in the sewer in search for that which is valuable to him. This is a God who loves us so much that there are no ends to which he will not go to show his love.

You are that valuable to God. Have you found your way home?

If you want to learn more about “The Searching God” come to Community Baptist this Sunday at 10:45 a.m.

Tim Hobbs, Pastor