July 20, 2008

security?

photo by Erin Doyle

"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.'

I tell you that in the same way

there will be more rejoicing in heaven

over one sinner who repents

than over ninety-nine righteous persons

who do not need to repent."

- Luke 15:3-7 NIV

Notice that the 99 are not left in the

safety of the fold

but are left unattended in the open country.

"That is far more descriptive of our heavenly Father...

Only God, exhibiting his risky, careless love,

would leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness

to look for the one who is lost."

- Fred Craddock

(professor of preaching and New Testament

at Candler School of Theology)

"Security is not the absence of danger,

but the presence of God,

no matter what the danger."

- Author Unknown