SCRIPTURE: Matthew 18
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
(Read my reflection from 2008)
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. [Matthew 18:12-13]
Today’s reading reveals the heart of God.
God loves all people, without distinction, but He has a special place in His heart for those who are bullied, and a special anger for those who do the bullying.
People who strive for position over others [vv.1-5] or those who cause little ones to stumble [6-9], live in conflict with God’s heart.
God eagerly seeks and cares for the least and the lost [vv.10-14], He eagerly desires that we strive for reconciliation, agreement and fellowship [vv.15-20], and that we forgive each other from the heart [vv.21-35]

Can you see the picture of God – and of Himself – that Jesus paints?
A God who earnestly loves the lost and the least, Who does all that He can to lift them up and to resist and bring down those who harass them!
Jesus Himself is God with us, seeking us and loving us and forgiving us and restoring us.
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost [Luke 19:10].
This is God’s heart, and it ought to be the heart of those who love God.

Yet human nature is about striving for self rather than serving the least.
We seem to be pre-programmed to look out for #1.
We will serve others, but only after we have made certain that we are OK.
God’s driving passion is about helping and healing and restoring others… is it ours?
The last section about forgiveness is especially convicting.
It highlights HOW MUCH we have been forgiven by God, and contrasts other’s sins against us as trivial (compare the debts in the parable).

Think of every person you know who is somehow estranged from God or you.
The lost people that we live around, without hardly noticing them.
The people who have wronged us, that we are holding a grudge against.
The people that we have stepped over to get what we wanted.
The hurting people around us that we are too busy to spend time with.
The people we are most likely to overlook and neglect are the very ones that God has a special place in His heart for.

Did you notice this part?
He is happier about one ‘little one’ being restored or forgiven or loved, than about the 99 already saved people attending church with us.
God’s priority is the ‘little ones’; is that my priority?
God’s priority is the ‘lost ones’; is this our church’s priority?

PRAYER:
Lord, impress Your heart on mine. Break my heart with the things that break Yours!