Restoring the was lost.

The lost and found.

The idea of losing a relationship one has, especially one that is appreciated, is not easy to handle. The void and empty feeling is devastating when a relationship is broken off or dismantle, like a divorce or a runaway child. The bible tells us that we should not forsake a friend because friends are always there for you (Pr27:10). Doing everything possible to keep a friendship or a relationship which is crucial in times like these, especially when people are so apart today. The price for keeping a friend or someone close is pretty hefty, especially when people are so busy and unto their own. In fact, Jesus said that no greater love has someone for a friend that he should give his life for him (Jh15:13). What price will we be willing to pay for a lost relationship? God is into restoring the relationships that have been lost, especially when the day draws near for his redeeming time. 

Luke 15:3-6

³ And he spake this parable unto them, saying, ⁴ What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? ⁵ And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

The Pharisees and scribes murmured about Jesus sitting and eating with the sinners and publicans at the table, and so he provides three parables that gives light for how God reacts towards the lost. First, he compares how each of the religious people that sat there would behave if one of their sheep would become lost, in that they would leave everything behind to find the lost. Once the sheep was found they would invite friends to celebrate joyfully. Next, he shares how a woman who loses a coin turns her home upside down to find the coin (Lk15:9). And once the coin that was lost was found there is a celebration full of joy.  Then the parable of prodigal son, that after he took his share of his inheritance and spend it decided to come back home. And once he made it back home the father filled with joy ran to him and with a hug and a kiss received him joyfully (Lk15:20).

The three parables of the lost compares how we react when something that was lost is found, with how God reacts towards the lost and found.  But in the parable of the prodigal son, we find a detail description of when the lost comes on his own verses when the lost is found. When the son came on his own it says that the father after embracing him sent his servant to get the best robe and a ring and dress the son. And then the servant was to kill the fatted calf and make a celebration, because the son came back home (Lk15:22-24). Setting an example of how God reacts towards someone who on his own comes back to God, that he takes off his ruin clothing and dresses him with fine linen, as he did with Joshus (Zec3:3-4).