Lost and Found

Here's an interesting bit of trivia: According to the Department of Statistics, the average American spends one full year of their life looking for lost things. One year! Have you ever misplaced your car keys just when you urgently needed to get somewhere on time? Or looked for those eyeglasses that were sitting on top of your head? Or searched high and low for the book you wanted to take on vacation? You probably felt as if you searched an entire year just for one lost item.
   Jesus spend three years searching...his entire ministry. But he did not search for material things, such as keys, glasses and books. No, Jesus looked for lost people. He searched among the sinners and found such unpopular people as Matthew, the tax collector, and Mary Magdalene, the woman tormented by seven demons. He searched in the region of Galilee and found the likes of Peter and John and many women followers. He searched among the rebellious and found Zacchaeus. He went into Samaria, an area shunned by orthodox Jews, and met the woman who lived in sin getting water at a well.
   Jesus will search for the lost. Where did he find you? At a nightclub? Living life as a rebel? Riding the subway in a big city? Buried under a pile of books at a university? Or perhaps he found you sitting in a church pew, convinced you had everything together, sort of like Nicodemus, the learned Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin. Yet even to him, Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:7).
   Wherever you were, the Savior came looking for you because you are valuable to him. You are worth every moment of the search. For when you answered his call, he and the angels in heaven rejoiced. And now you are his beloved child, one of his "chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you our of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).
   There is so much, so very much for you to rejoice in.
-Women's Devotional Bible 

[Psalm 23:1-4]

1 The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

2 He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams.

3 He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name.

4 Even when I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff

protect and comfort me.

[Psalm 139:1-24]

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave, you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

20 They blaspheme you;

your enemies misuse your name.

21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

[Luke 19:1-10]

1 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.  

2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. 

3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.  

4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.  

7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.  

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

 [John 10:14-16]

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,  

15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.  

16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.