“Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.” —Luke 15:5–7
God takes great pleasure in the repenting and returning of the wandering!
“Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” —2 Peter 3:8–9
Jesus’ rejoicing over the lost sheep that is found certainly shows us a heavenly perspective! Repentance, the lost one coming home, always brings a smile to God’s face and starts the angels singing! Great rejoicing abounds in heaven when the children of God finally “get it”! We are so earthbound in our thought processes. We rarely think eternally. But one day our partial reflection will give way to perfect vision. If we only truly understood what we are saved for and from, we would be rejoicing over the returning of the repentant.
“For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” —John 3:16–18
Our verses today describe what occurs in heaven when a lost sheep is found. Basically, rejoicing abounds! The lost sheep repents, it wants to come home! Specifically, repentance is “to undergo a moral reorientation of the soul,” according to the New Testament Lexical Aids of the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. It goes on to explain:
“This reorientation acknowledges the error of one’s ways and turns them towards the divinely prescribed way of truth and righteousness. In terms of salvation (or conversion), repentance denotes a turning away from unbelief, mistrust, and rebellion against God and toward complete reliance upon His forgiveness and favor on account of Christ. Although repentance can be attended by and expressed through sorrow or contrition, it is fundamentally tied to the mind or heart and not the emotions.”
Become More
We simply cannot trust our emotions—they ebb and flow like the waves of the sea. If we are basing our belief on this tossing and turning, we are certain to be unstable in our ways. When we allow our emotions to control us, we vacillate over trusting in God’s provision and turning to our own fears and anxieties.
Trust in the truth of God’s Word. He is looking for the lost sheep … and rejoices when He finds it!
Further Reflection
“‘The supreme happiness of life,’ Victor Hugo said, ‘is the conviction on that we are loved’… Unfortunately, many people go through life feeling unloved–and unlovable … No matter the reason, your feelings aren’t telling you the truth! God loves you, and if you begin to see yourself the way God sees you, your attitudes will begin to change. If He didn’t love you, would Christ have been willing to die for you? But He did! The Bible says, ‘By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us’ (1 John 3:16). God loves you. Hammer that truth into your head and mind every day. It will make all the difference.” —Billy Graham