Leaving the 99

If you had $1000 all in one dollar bills, would you be that upset if you lost ONE? How about a bag of M&Ms...a HUGE bag...would you care if you dropped ONE on the floor? What's the power of ONE when you have a lot?

I heard a great sermon tonight at my cousin's church. In the gospels, Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd who left 99 sheep to find ONE that was missing. Jesus cares about the ONE. How often do we? In our churches of hundreds of people, how many of us care about ONE person who falls away from Christ or the ONE person we didn't see on Sunday morning? How often do we pick up the phone to make sure that ONE person is okay? Or what about the neighbor you haven't seen for a while or the relative that you don't really connect with that easily?

If Jesus can care about the ONE, shouldn't we? The thing is, if that ONE lost person was your best friend or your family member, you could care deeply about the ONE wouldn't you? God feels that way about ALL of his children. He desires that not ONE would perish! If we are to be the people after God's heart that He wants us to be, we have to care about the ONE lost sheep.

Let your act of kindness today be something that draws the ONE back to Christ...whoever that ONE person is in your life!