Saving The One

Luke chapter fifteen gives an account of an occasion where “tax collectors and [notorious and especially wicked] sinners were all coming near to [Jesus] to listen to Him”. Pharisees and scribes were also there, hurling insults at Jesus saying, “This man accepts and receives and welcomes [preeminently wicked] sinners and eats with them”, which prompted Jesus to tell the parable of “The Lost Sheep” immediately followed by that of “The Lost Coin” (read Luke 15:3-10).

Jesus hits His listeners hard by making it personal when He begins with, “What man of you”. This shows that He was directing what He was about to say to each individual there and even to us today. 

These consecutive parables address the same issue and clearly illustrate that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10; see also Ezekiel 34:12). Jesus is concerned for every single individual and is not satisfied with saving ninety nine out of one hundred or nine out of ten, not even ninety nine percent. He is distressed over the one percent that is lost. 

Jesus desires that ALL are saved, and has sent out an invitation to ALL people, for He knows that ALL need to be saved and that ALL can be saved. And He wants us to realize that we can all be saved to the utmost through Him.

Jesus is greatly grieved to know that even one person will not enter God’s Kingdom and He is willing to go to any lengths necessary to bring him into the Kingdom. 

We cannot truly imagine the jubilation in heaven when the one that was lost is finally found, and repents, determined to completely change his course for a better way of life (see Luke 15:11-32). That way of life, which only following Jesus can provide. 

These parables demonstrate just how huge the heart of Jesus is for us and how He will search diligently for the one who’s lost. We must not be satisfied with only having our families and friends enter into relationship with Jesus but, like Jesus, our desire should be to see every person, those we know and those we may come into contact with, saved. 

We must be the type of people who leave the ninety nine and go out to search for the one or make a clean sweep to find that lost one. 

We too, as followers of Jesus, must not be content with ninety nine but must be concerned with saving the one.

Amen †

Saving The One ©2013 Shelley Johnson 6-Oct-13