To Be a Coin in the Purse of God’s Heart

Luke 15:8-10 (CEV): To Be a Coin in the Purse of God’s Heart

Jesus told the people another story:

What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won’t she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found the coin I lost.”

Jesus said, “In the same way God’s angels are happy when even one person turns to him.”

No one is without value in the eyes of our loving God. Every person, no matter their past, is loved and cherished. Each of us matters greatly, so much that God stripped himself of everything to become a vulnerable human being, to live with us, teach us, love us, and die for us. The cross is the greatest reminder of God’s love and the value that each of us holds in his heart.

It is too easy to look around our broken world and find examples of human suffering. Whether it is the streets of Calcutta, the avenues of Manhattan, or the Appalachian dirt roads of West Virginia, we can see the face of human beings reduced to ruin. “How can a loving God allow this?” many ask. But what we fail to remember is the fall of humanity. The first books of Genesis spell this out with clarity and conviction. We have fallen into temptation, rejected God, and lost paradise. Since then, our world has been one in need of unity, love, and renewal. Christ came to set the standard. As people of faith, we are called to spread his Good News with our lives. In many ways we succeed; in others we fail. But our successes and failures do not mean that God loves us any more of less. He loves us unconditionally with his whole life. No matter how hard we try, succeed, or fail, God’s love is the beautiful constant of our lives. Each and every one of us matters. The problem is when we doubt this. Jesus tells a parable in Luke 15:8-10, however, to assuage our doubts.

We are the lost and found coins of the world. Often we are in the purse of our Creator, living life reflecting God’s love to the world. But there are moments when we choose the opposite: We gossip, resent others, seek revenge, act with passive aggression, lie, and reject love. After all, we are only human. But seeking the lost coin, God sweeps his house looking for us, never giving up. When we finally repent -- turning our lives around and asking God for forgiveness -- God and all of heaven celebrate! We are imperfect and prone to sin, but each of us is a shining coin held in the purse of God’s heart. Never forget it!

I pray that we all remember how much our lives matter to our loving and faithful God. And through God’s grace, I pray that our lives sparkle with his love to all those we serve and encounter.

Have a blessed week!

Stan