Understanding the Heart of God – The Lost Coin #4 of 5

Jesus has been spending too much time reaching out to sinners. The religious leaders have become frustrated, they have begun to mutter. Rather than dismiss them, the Forgiver seeks to help them understand His heart.

He tells them a second story.

Luke 15:8-10
8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." NIV

The Master Teacher uses something we all understand, money. We need no sermon to understand the importance of lost money. The women does just what we would all do to find something lost. She systematically searches for it. Our problem is we don’t understand how important the lost coin was. We don’t sense the urgency; we don’t sense the near-panicked heart of God.

If all you own is 10 coins, losing one is huge. Imagine having 10,000 dollars and losing 1,000. Still struggling to understand how God feels about the lost? Let me help. Imagine being at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, the largest mall in the US. You are there with your five-year-old son, or grandson. As you turn to pay the cashier for your purchase he wanders away. When you look for him, he is not there. You look up and down the aisle, he is no where to be seen. Imagine what goes through your mind, what pulls at your heart. Imagine your frantic, near-panicked efforts to find him, to ensure that he is safe.

In those moments you don’t argue about how many times you’ve told him not to wander. You don’t worry about what has caught his distraction, what has tempted him away; all you think about is his safety. Your heart breaks with how much you love him. You’re filled with worry that he won’t be found until it is too late. In that moment we are closer to the heart of God than at any other time.

Is there any wonder that a parent rejoices when a lost child is found? Should there be any wonder that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents? The Heart of God loves the lost more than we have perhaps ever imagined.

But the heart of God will go deeper still.