Open our eyes
To see the things that make your heart cry
To be the church that you would desire
Your light to be seen…
What are the things that draw our attention? What are we focused on? What piques our interests? Growing up in the South, a love for football comes naturally. Despite the fact that I only played organized ball for 3 years, I have been a close observer and fan of the game for as long as I can remember. In the Fall, every Saturday is booked because I am busy watching my team play or other various games of interest around the country. I am well versed in every rule of the game. I have a solid grasp of how one team’s perfomance can have an impact on another team’s standing. And I can almost recite each team’s position in the Associated Press Poll on a weekly basis. As fanatical as I am in my devotion, however, I know that I am not alone. Countless individuals in every region and demographic in America feel the same way that I do about the game and are just as knowledgeable. But at the end of the season, what does that knowledge profit us?
In Luke 15, Jesus tells a story about a woman who has ten coins. One evening she realizes that she has lost one of her coins and begins to search the entire house for that one coin. Upon finding it, she calls her neighbors together to rejoice with her for what was lost is now found. Now other than the obvious God-cares-for-you-and-has-sought-after-you storyline, there are a few major themes that Christ is trying to convey to us in this text. First, we understand that we must be good stewards of our surroundings, resources, and spiritual gifts. In a business setting, a manager takes an inventory of his stock so that he knows what he has to work with. If he has been diligent in keeping that inventory, he should be able to readily spot if something is out of place or missing. That is exactly what the woman in the parable has done. She kept track of the coins she possessed, and when one of them went missing, she was able to recognize it right away. As disciples of Christ and stewards of our Lord, we too must be good stewards of the gift God has granted us. How effectively do we manage our time? What do the majority of our non-essential purchases go towards? How we utilize our time and money says alot about the kinds of stewards that we are. However, we can take this a step further? Is your “people inventory” up to date? The greatest gift that God has blessed us with, aside from His Son, is the opportunity to take part is His glorious mission to reconcile humanity back to Himself. Therefore, the most valuable “goods” to be monitored, in keeping with our business-model analogy, are the very people we come in contact with on a daily basis. Do you know whom among your friends is lost? Do you know their background and how that might have affected their present stance on religion? Do you check on a weekly basis who among your congregation might have missed a couple of meetings? And if so, have you contacted them? You see we devote so much time and mental effort towards memorizing pointless, trivial facts that are fun for the moment, but in the end don’t really matter. Are we devoting that same level passion towards kingdom business, towards keeping an accurate inventory of who has made their way into the Lord’s fold?
The second, and somewhat more traditional, theme that we can glean from this text is the concept of intrinsic value. Each coin possessed a certain value that could be diminished. When the woman lost her coin, it did not lose any of its value. For example, imagine that you possess ten hundred-dollar bills. As you walk around the mall one day, one of the bills falls out of your pocket and onto the ground. Is that hundred-dollar bill now worth any less than the remaining nine bills in your pocket? Of course not! You would call me foolish if I argued that it was now worthless solely it was apart from the others. Furthermore, once you realized the the bill was gone, you would go back and claim it as your own. You would fight to reclaim it because it was your valued possession. Why, then, is it any less foolish to deem those outside of the body of Christ as less valuable? Why, then, are we not out in the world fighting for what rightfully belongs to our God? As I said previously, God has gifted us with the wonderful opportunity to take part in this mission with Him. And just as the woman used a lamp to light up the dark corners of her home- to illuminate the areas which were hidden from view- so we “the light of the world” have been employed by the One whose fame draws us in awestruck wonder to illuminate a dark world and gather the nations to join us in crying out his glorious and deserved praise?
What is demanding your attention? Are you focused on studying for that upcoming test? Are you worried about how your school will perform on the gridiron this weekend? Are you musing over when God will reveal your soulmate? Are you devoted to following to the letter the exact plans that you have laid out for your career path? What consumes your thoughts? It is my prayer for you, as well as myself, that we are passionate about the things that God is passionate for. I pray that we have a heart to go out and reclaim that which was His in the beginning. I pray that we are moved by those who are lost – moved into action to see a marvelous surge in our generation come to know the kind of power and love, peace and fervor that can only come from God. As you go out into the world, remember your purpose. You are a light in a dark world. If you go out and seek, He promises that you will find.
