The Shepherd Who Seeks

The Shepherd Who Seeks

If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? –Luke 15:4

I know what it feels like to fail and to agonize with the anxiety and regret and embarrassment that inevitably follow. Remembering can cause me to cringe. But I have been fortunate (so far) that most of my most painful mistakes have not been in full view for all to see.

It wasn’t like that for a friend of mine. Her private indiscretion became headline news, a public scandal. It was painful and humiliating and scary. Many who were hurt and disappointed by her sin turned their backs on her, which added rejection and isolation to her pain.

Disillusioned by believers who failed her, broken by her own failure and shame, and filled with doubts about whether or not the gospel she had claimed to build her life around is really true and reliable, she simply walked away from her faith. She still lingers there outside the fold, walking away from God rather than toward him, a thoroughly entrenched skeptic.

When I see her or think of her, my heart breaks because I love her and because I see her for who she is—a lost lamb. I want her to know that the joy and rest the Good Shepherd provides are real. I’ve experienced them. I know the heart of the Good Shepherd is broken for her, too, and that he cannot rest until the one who has strayed is safely returned. He doesn’t seek her so that he can punish her or pass judgment. He wants to lavish his love on her and lead her to a place of safety and rest and joy.

Isn’t it good to know that is the heart of our Good Shepherd? Out of his great love, he pursues those who stray away from his loving care and he rejoices when they return. He takes the first step to pursue the one who is lost and is persistent until he brings the lost one safely home. And the one who was lost is not greeted with a lecture but with a celebration.

Seeker and Savior of the lost, implant within me your heart for those who have wandered away from you. Rid me of my religious elitism that implies you are lucky to have me in the fold and that ignores those who are lost.

DIGGING DEEPER