Matthew 18:12 - 14
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
You've probably thought these thoughts about some folks you know and perhaps you've said these things about others. I know I have . . . both thought them and said them.
"He'll never change."
"You're wasting your time helping her."
"I don't think there's any hope for him."
My tendency to give up on people, to write them off, stands in stark contrast to God's relentless pursuit of every human being. God never gives up on anyone. No one is beyond God's reach. No one is a lost cause to God. No one is so lost that God cannot find them. No one is forgotten to God. No one is too little or lost.
Jesus' simple story says this very plainly.
Maybe this is simply the quintessential story of grace, the story of how God never will believe that we are beyond living in oneness with him. God's nature is to overwhelm us with a generosity that extends to every person.
That includes me. And you.
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