The One or the Ninety-Nine

I don’t know about you, but for most of my life, I’ve tried doing the “right” thing. And I have a lot of concern for the people who don’t seem to be doing the “right” thing. I spend a lot of time worrying about them and their relationship with God.

But over the last few days, I’ve been reminded of something so important. It’s often the people who stray away from God who have the best stories, who have that true commitment when they do believe. They are the ones who can later say without an ounce of doubt that Jesus forgives and Jesus saves.

Of course I’m not encouraging you to turn away from God in the hopes that He will call you back again and you’ll have an awesome story to share with people. I think it has to happen naturally, and God wants us to follow His commands and go after the lost sheep with Him.

But I think that remembering how God rejoices over the ones who had to be found in the painful thicket and how God is willing to fight for us can give us hope. We don’t have to feel shame when we have been forgiven. We don’t have to dwell on past mistakes because God uses those to draw us and others closer to Him. We can use our past or present sufferings in order to relate to others and make them realize that we aren’t some elitist group. And we don’t have to worry about the ones who have “gone astray”. We have to realize that it’s not our job telling them what to do or be. We just need to be there for them and pray for them and realize that we may have been one of them.

There are different points in our lives where we are either the “one” Jesus is hunting down or part of the righteous “ninety-nine”. It can be hard being in either category, because sometimes when we are the “one”, we are lost and desperate for something better. But once we are found, there is so much love and celebration!

When we are in the “ninety-nine”, we are growing and becoming the people we were made to be. But it can also feel like we’re stuck in a trap, sometimes it feels like Christianity is just a book of rules and not a real relationship. But if we are able to balance both the way we need to live and our fellowship with Jesus and other believers, we can celebrate no matter what part of the journey we are on.

So today, I hope you can have a little bit of the burden lifted off your shoulders, whether you are feeling as though you can’t get out of a lifestyle without God, or if you are worried about the lost sheep in your life. You can get through this. You can become the person you were made to be. But you need to trust that God has a plan for every one of His children, and it’s just up to you to follow Him and believe.

“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.'”

~Luke 15:5-6