Something has been mulling around in my mind for awhile now.
I'm writing this blog because a sermon I saw this morning has really helped to put to words the things that have been on my mind. Here it is:

The religious leaders of Jesus' time really weren't an unusual lot. Really, they were pretty normal. They were logical, even.
They complained that Jesus hung out with tax-collectors and sinners.


Wouldn't most of us do the same thing if we saw our brother or sister doing the something similar? Let me explain.
If I went to a club and hung out there without the title of "OUTREACH" blinking on my forehead, what sort of things would people say?
If I spent alone time with a pimp, what kinds of things would people think?
Who cares why I did it. Who cares what was said, even. Those things wouldn't matter. What would really matter is what it looks like happened. Because what it looks like happened could ruin my reputation as a God-loving christian.

There are three stories that Jesus' tells the religious leaders in response to this complaint.
He tells them the story of a Shepherd who loses one sheep out of a hundred and leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one.
He tells the story of a woman who loses one coin and ransacks her whole house to find it.
He tells the story of a father who loses a son to immorality, and when the son finally comes home and offers himself as a servant instead of a son, embraces him before he could even finish his offer.

All three throw parties to celebrate finding what they'd lost. And All three are absolutely illogical.
To risk 99 sheep and then throw a party that probably cost more than the one sheep alone. To leave 9 coins and ransack a home, tearing everything apart to find the one, then throw a party that probably cost more than that one lost coin alone.

And then the son...the one story that we can, most of us, relate to more than the other two stories.
The son. The one who was once lost returns home and seeks to earn his name again.

But parents know that no child can ever earn their last name. Children are born into it, they are given it, and given everything that comes with it. The food they eat, the clothes they wear, everything. And whether they do bad or good, they are their parents. they belong to their family.

How many of us get this? I'm not to earn my name.
How many of us are shifting uncomfortably in the Father's arms, trying to finish our speech about how we want to fix our mess-ups, when there is nothing left to fix.

God's logic is so different from our own. It doesn't make sense.
I want you to read it again.
God's logic doesnt make sense.

Stop it. Just stop doing what you think pleases Him. Be in His arms, and stop moving.

Realize that that's where you belong.
I am who He says I am, simply because He says so.
I am who I am because He is who He is.
And He is truth.

He says I am beautiful, I am His, I am loved. I am unique. I am cherished.

Those three stories aren't about the coin, or the sheep, or even the lost son.
They are about the Shepherd, the Woman, and the Father.
They are about the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and how they feel about you and me. It's about their heart, Beloved.
You may think that you aren't special. that maybe you are one of the 99 sheep that God has left. That when He says that He loves you, He means a collective 'you', a general 'you'.

But listen.

Listen.

When He looks for you, he looks for you. And nothing else, no one else, will do.
When He looks for you, it's because He knows you, and He feels the pain of losing you more than anyone. 

It's not about a number to God, like it is to us.

It's not about a title to God, like it is to us.

His measuring scale is so different because no one can fill your spot in His heart but you. The missing coin is so important to the woman because she knows the coin and so she knows what she's lost. That coin may be worth less than the party she throws after finding it, but to her that coin is worth every single penny, and more. 

He crushed His son for you. His son was crushed for you. 
Your sin does not intimidate Him because

It. Is. Finished.