Faith Filled Family Magazine April 2017 | Page 63

ices When ... Person Gives Their Life

BY L . CARTER
are His precious children that He loves so very much .
Notice how Jesus proceeds in Luke 15:4 ,
“ What man of you , having a hundred sheep , if he loses one of them , does not leave the ninetynine in the wilderness , and go after the one which is lost until he finds it ?”
They had no answer for this . He painted a picture for them that they understood all too well . Sheep were a common , but valuable commodity in those days . But why would the shepherd who is very busy tending to the ninety-nine sheep , leave to go out of his way to find the one who strayed and got lost ? After all , that silly sheep should have stayed with the group , right ? It ’ s not the shepherd ’ s fault that he wandered off by himself . He should have known better . Besides , the shepherd still had ninety-nine sheep .
That ’ s plenty to have to worry about – with wolves and other dangerous predators to have to constantly fend off . That shepherd is plenty busy with just ninety-nine sheep . In fact , he should probably allow a few more of them to stray . Then he wouldn ’ t have so many to have to worry about . That may sound cruel , but if we ’ re realistic , some of us would probably feel that way if we were in that shepherd ’ s shoes . He tends to them , looks out for them , provides for them , and what thanks does he get , they wander off at times .
Then he has to go out of his way to find them . But he doesn ’ t mind doing it because he loves them so much . Isn ’ t that just like our Father ? God cares for us and loves us so very much , until He doesn ’ t mind searching us out . Of course , we know there is nowhere we can ever go that He will not find us . We can never hide from Him , or even get lost someplace where He can ’ t locate us . Thankfully , that ’ s just not possible .
Yet , our loving , Heavenly Father will search us out when we leave His side . Sometimes , we think we know the way to go , and then we quickly discover that we were mistaken . Our Father knows this . When we go astray , whether on purpose or by accident , He knows . He is fully aware of what led us away from Him . His only concern is to get us back . He does not wish to scold us for leaving His side , He only wants to find us , pick us up and carry us so that we feel safe .
The Father knows that is all we really want – to feel loved , safe , and secure . The Father knows that the safest place to be is in His loving arms .