Monday 10 October 2016

Daily Devotion: The Upper Room daily devotional: LOST AND FOUND

Read Ephesians 2:1-10
If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?

- Matthew 18:12 (NRSV)

I have a special place in my heart for those who have been convicted of breaking the law. I must have “inherited” it from my father. He worked with people who had been either on probation or incarcerated. He was strict with them, yet caring.

He talked with them and tried to help them to change, to get “clean” and begin to live purposeful and productive lives. My dad told me that most of the people he worked with came from dysfunctional families. All of them, especially teenagers, desperately want to be loved.

Maybe, in addition to my dad’s influence, I inherited this empathy from my heavenly Father. While we may see criminals as unworthy, God cares for them; after all, they too are created in God’s image and likeness. In spite of their lawlessness, God loves them and seeks them out.

Heaven rejoices when the lost are found. My family knows it firsthand; my brother was one of them. Even though we are all capable of sin, Jesus redeems us by his shed blood — a sacrifice that brings us God’s forgiveness. All of us who have lived outside God’s law can now live righteously and with purpose.




Thought for the Day:

“I once was lost but now am found.”*

Prayer: Compassionate God, we thank you for your loving heart. We want to love you in return by living according to your will. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Prayer Focus: THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER FELT LOVED

The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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