C.S. Lewis - "Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy".
The story of the "One and ninety-nine" is prompted by some disgruntled Pharisees and teachers of religious law, who complain because Jesus is associating with tax collectors and other notorious sinners, who have come to hear him teach. This story is found in the parable of the lost sheep in Romans 15:1-7. This is followed by the parable of the "Lost coin" (Luke 15:8-10) and the parable of the "Lost son" (Luke 15:11-32).
All three of these parables are meant to teach us how lost we are without God. The other day while praying and seeking God's will for our ministry, I accidentally started to drift off into a daydream. What I saw was other ministries, such as "Joyce Meyers" and "Billy Graham" reaching so many for Christ, while OMIA reaches so few. I started to feel a little hopeless and useless as I thought, "Does our ministry even have value?"......RRRRRRT (this is the sound of my brain brakes). I immediately started to pray and listen for God's truth. Two verses came to mind, and although I didn't know their address, I quickly clicked on Biblegateway.com.
The first is 2 Corinthians 10:5 "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," which reminded me to take these negative thoughts captive.
The second, was Luke 15:7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! This piece of truth reminded me that it is not about how many people we reach, but that we are lost without a daily, moment by moment relationship with God. We also must remember that God works his will through our willing obedience. We don't move mountains, He does.
I am so thankful that God left the ninety-nine to come for me and I am learning that my only happiness comes from living for Him.
With much love, Collette
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