Philippians 3:3-8 / Luke 15:1-10
Whenever we are at a supermarket or a shopping center, we may come across this announcement over the public announcement system - that a child was found wondering and the parents are to come and claim back their child.
Usually it is when the child is found wondering around and brought to public attention that the parents then realize that their child was missing.
In the gospel, we hear of a different kind of announcement.
It is an announcement of a search. It is a search for an object or a thing that may seem quite unimportant or of little value, and that it can even be written off.
But it is a different kind of search. It is God who is doing the searching and He is searching for those who have lost their way in life.
They are lost and yet they are considered as unimportant and of little value and can even be written off.
To think that God is frantically searching for such persons is indeed very mind-boggling, because we usually wouldn't be bothered about such persons.
We can even say that God is desperately searching for the lost.
Yet that is the God that we believe in because it is revealed to us that God loves us with an everlasting love and He wants us to be in the joy of His love.
To put it simply, God cares about each one of us and loves us dearly and He wants us to remain with Him always.
Just as we search desperately and frantically when we lose our wallets and hand-phones, God searches for us when we go astray and get lost in the way of life.
No one is unimportant or of no value to God. Because each person is created unique and is special in the eyes of God.