February 23, 2019 – Luke 15:4

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
—Luke 15:4

The love of Jesus, the Great Shepherd, is very practical and active.24 There is a sheep lost, and the Lord regrets it, but his love does not spend itself in regrets; he arises and goes forth to seek and to save what was lost. The love of Jesus Christ is love not with words only, but in actions and in truth. He does not wait until the sheep is willing to return or until it makes some attempt to come back; no sooner is its lost estate known to the Shepherd than he starts off to find what was lost. The love of Jesus to the lost sheep is preeminent. He leaves the ninety-nine so that all his heart, his eye, his strength may be given to the one that has gone astray. O sweet love of Christ! Let us learn the love of Christ, that we may be wise in shepherdry. Let us not talk about our friends and say we love them, but let us show it by earnest, personal, speedy endeavors to do them good. Let us not wait until we see some goodness in them—until they seek after instruction. Long before they have a thought of coming home, let us be eager to grasp them, if by any means we may save some.
[The shepherd’s] whole soul is in his eyes and ears until he finds it. This is a faint yet true picture of the Great Shepherd who came here to seek his flock. So the Evangelists have drawn him—always watchful, spending night and day in prayers and tears and entreaties, never to have a joy more until he finds the lost one.
Like the shepherd, there is no hesitating with Jesus. The sheep is lost, and the news is brought to the shepherd. He knows which way that stray sheep will go, and he is on its track at once, though he knows that he must mark that track with his blood. See the blessed shepherd pressing on: there is no pausing nor resting until he finds it.
—C. H. Spurgeon

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