The Reckless Love of God
by Peter Lane 22 May 2021
Matthew 18 v12-14
“What do you think a man does who has 100 sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other 99 grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep. When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the 99 that did not get lost. In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost.
We are all still living in very strange times as we collectively try to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus. Even though the lockdown is slowly being eased we are a long way from normal. Inevitably some days feel better than others.
For some of us our faith can be similarly affected. There are occasions when we feel that we are on the mountain top and God is very near to us, but there are other times when we can feel alone and that we are hanging on to our faith by our fingertips.
Some time ago at the Wednesday prayer evening we were given a picture which shows lots of people climbing a mountain on different steps of their faith journey, and I keep this with my daily bible notes to remind me that we are all on different parts of the mountain and to encourage me when I struggle to feel close to God.
No matter how we are feeling it is important to remember that God loves us, and as the reading from Matthew tells us, His love is so great that He is prepared to leave the 99 in order to find the one that is lost. In our everyday lives we would probably think that is a reckless thing to do, but God cares for each one of us and will do whatever it takes to allow us to know him as our Lord and Saviour.
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Prayer
Lord, I give thanks for your never ending love for me.
Help me to stand firm in my faith when I feel alone.
Remind me that you are with me on every step of my mountain journey.
I am eternally grateful for your reckless love.
Amen