Are you a lost coin?

     The coins felt heavy in the woman's hand as she opened the little box to put them away. They were a reminder of her wedding day. Her parents had given them to her before she got married and she often removed them from their hiding place to relive an important part of her history. They were a reminder of the happiest day of her life and she could almost hear the voices of her parents and envision the joy on their faces as they blessed her on her wedding day. The faces of those who came to share in her special day were also etched in her memory forever. 

     Daylight was fading as she counted the coins into the little wooden box where she kept her treasures. 

     She gasped as she counted a second time, one of her precious coins was missing. There should have been 10 coins, but only nine were counted. In her musings about the past, she must have dropped one of her coins. It had to be in the house somewhere. She knelt on the floor and looked about for it, but could see nothing in the approaching darkness, so she lighted the oil lamp and searched again. 

     She was beginning to get frantic and knew that she had to find her lost coin. It must have rolled across the room or got wedged under a piece of furniture. She got out her broom and began systematically moving furniture and sweeping the floor. 

     "I cannot rest tonight until I find it," she spoke to herself as she continued sweeping and searching.

     Something in the corner caught her eye as she moved the lamp to the floor in order to see better. There was a sparkle, visible only in the lamplight and her precious coin was discovered leaning against the wall. She quickly picked it up and held it between her hands offering thanksgiving to God for helping her find it.

     In her excitement at finding the coin, she ran out the door and across the courtyard to her neighbors' home, explaining to her friends all that she had gone through during the course of the evening. 

     "Rejoice with me," she said. "I have found my lost coin!"

     Before we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are like that lost coin. He knows that we are there, because He created us, but we are lost in our sin. 

     Jesus told His disciples the parable of the lost coin to teach them about entering the kingdom of God. Each person in the world is precious to God, we are as valuable to Him as the coin was to the woman in the story. God searches for those who are lost as carefully as the woman searched her home for her coin. He will turn the world upside down in His search for us and stop at nothing until He finds us and then He rejoices with us when our lives become intertwined with His.

     "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents," said Jesus. 

   

“Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

(Luke 15:8-10) The Message

Loving God

How can we return love to a God who has shown us so much love?

     When you truly love someone, whether it's your grandchildren, children, spouse, siblings, parents or just a good friend, you offer expressions of your love through gifts, by spending time with them, fixing their favorite foods or just giving them a hug. There are so many creative ways that we can show our affection to those we love, but how do we show our Heavenly Father that we return His love?

     A number of years ago, as I was praying, I imagined myself climbing up onto God's lap. He invites us to spend time with Him and since Jesus portrayed God as a Father, it's easy to imagine sitting on our Heavenly Father's lap and telling Him about our concerns or just resting quietly in His loving arms. (I think He really likes that best.)

     As I imagined myself as a child resting in her father's arms, it occurred to me that I'd like to give Him a big hug. My mind knows that physically it's impossible to hug God, but my spirit told me that I should just do it. And so I pictured myself turning around in His lap, reaching up to hug His neck and then whispering in His ear, "I love you." 

     I have never forgotten the way it made me feel to hug God's neck and tell Him about my love for Him and I know that He was pleased with me that day. I never saw His face but I know He was smiling when I hugged Him. Afterwards I got to thinking that God created mankind specifically to have a relationship with us. I don't think He's lonely, God is self-sufficient and really doesn't need anything from anybody, but I wonder how often we show Him signs of affection. 

     I realize that we often praise Him with songs and words of adoration, we thank Him for the blessings He has given us and sometimes we even thank Him for the trials in our lives which bring us closer to Him, but do we ever really profess our love to Him? 

     "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV

     "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?" Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NIV

     "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments'." Matthew 22:37-40 NIV

     How do we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength? I looked up the definitions of those words and this is what I discovered. The heart is thought of as the place where emotions are felt, so if we love God with our all heart it means that we are emotionally tied to Him. Our soul is the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever. As Christians, we truly believe that God created us to be eternal beings and that our faith in Jesus Christ grants us eternal life with God. Therefore, loving God with all our soul is agreeing to trust Him with our spiritual being both now and throughout eternity. The mind is a part of a person that thinks, reasons, feels and remembers. Loving God with our mind takes the most effort because we actually need to think about Him on a daily basis and our mind can help us remember all that He has done for us and be grateful to Him. The dictionary describes strength as the quality or state of being physically strong or the ability to resist being moved or broken by a force. Loving God with our strength sometimes requires being physically strong but it also means that we have a strong conviction or faith in Him.

     God knows that we have responsibilities and jobs to perform, He knows that we have earthly duties to tend to and can't spend all our time in His presence. He expects us, as His children, to love Him by living our lives knowing that He is near to us at all times. Remembering that He is available to help us and doing our earthly tasks in the strength He gives us by His grace is one way we can show love to Him.

     Use your heart, soul, mind and strength as you show your love to the God of the Universe and He will smile as you give Him a spiritual hug.

Do You Have a Need?

What needs do you have? Do you need the basics of life - food, shelter or clothing? Are your needs of a more spiritual nature such as peace, comfort, friendship, love? Each one of us has needs even if we can't or won't voice those needs to others. It can be difficult and humbling to admit that we can't make it through this world without some help, but it is in those situations that God works best. He created us with a need for Him and when we finally reach a point where we cry out to Him for help, He is right there. "And my God will supply all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Everything in the world ultimately belongs to God and He can distribute wealth, clothing, food and shelter any way that He chooses. The blessings that He wants to pour out on His children often go unused because we are too proud to ask Him to meet our needs. We think that we are required to meet our own needs and that God expects us to take care of ourselves, but often He is just waiting for us to seek His help and admit that we are powerless on our own. He wants to hear that we need Him.

God often works through others to provide for our needs. Christians are often the first people to arrive at disasters because we know that Christ expects us to be His hands and feet to the world. In Matthew 25:34-39 we get a glimpse into the heart of God.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ (The Message)

We don't have to look too far to find someone in need. Within our own community this week, our congregation has heard of so many people who have needs both physical and spiritual. A couple from our church lost all their belongings in a house fire, several members have undergone surgery and we have been helping two families who were once homeless get their lives back on track. Another man in our congregation lost his daughter this week to a drug overdose. 

Whether you have a basic need like shelter or food on your table or you have a spiritual need to overcome grief, the Lord Jesus can meet your need. There are churches around the world which are opening their doors and calling upon Christians to help provide food, shelter and clothing; to pray and visit those who have health concerns and encourage those who are sick and grieving.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome that they should share with the Lord's people who are in need and practice hospitality. (Romans 12:13) 

Sometimes the needs of others are just so overwhelming that we don't know where to begin. The small things that we could offer just don't seem like they amount to much, but be encouraged. This week I've seen the people in a small church, with average attendance between 80 and 100, offer to give monetary donations, provide home furnishings and give of their time and manpower to help others. Each donation of a table, bedding, clothing and dishes is being gathered and stored in one location so that all those who are rebuilding their lives can come and take what they need. Each article, each dollar, each minute of time and energy is a blessing. 

It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. Proverbs 14:21

Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Proverbs 14:31

Whether you are the one in need or the one who will meet the need doesn't really matter. What matters is that God is glorified and Jesus is served. If you have a need I hope you will seek out God and His people to help you. Christian churches can be found in communities around the world. If you are thinking that you cannot offer much to help others, think again. Whatever small thing you do for others, you're doing it for Jesus.