One More - Wednesday

One More
Written By Matt Williams

TODAY’S VERSE

Luke 15:8

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” (ESV)

Christmas 2024 will go down in our family history as one of the more memorable holidays, and not for the reason we anticipated. If you ever met my mom, you’d quickly pick up on how she embodies the Christmas spirit. Not just the decorations, food, or music, but the pure joy that is the essence of the season. 

One of the things that brings her immense delight is giving gifts to other people. And as you can imagine, this peaks during the holiday season. But on this particular Christmas, she encountered an unexpected plot twist: One set of gifts had gone MIA. As she scoured her house (for hours), my wife and I watched her joy slowly dissolve into sorrow. 

A couple of weeks later, we received a text from my mom with an update: She’d finally located the gifts. It’s difficult to convey emotions via text, but I imagine her joy (and relief) was similar to the woman in Jesus’ next parable, where He changes the example of what’s lost (a Greek coin) as well as the quantity (one out of ten). Jesus has raised the stakes, implying an increase in value when compared to the previous parable. 

But there’s another contextual layer we need to peel back. In the first parable, Jesus is highlighting the relationship between God and the Jews. In this parable, He’s highlighting the relationship between God and the Gentiles. This parallels the feeding of the 5,000 with a predominantly Jewish audience (Matthew 14:13-21), and the feeding of the 4,000 with a predominantly Gentile audience (Matthew 15:32-39). 

So what’s Jesus getting at this time? God’s loving invitation is for all people. We can trace this thread throughout the Bible, but here are three key texts from the New Testament: 

Translation: The gospel is a global message for God’s global family. And because this global message has a global mission, we share the good news of Jesus with our neighbors AND the nations. Which means God’s family is not a country club for the holier-than-thou; it’s a hospital for the hurting. Remember: Our love for God’s Word should spur our love for God’s people—ALL of them.

APPLICATION

We can all play our part in God’s local and global mission in one of three ways: praying, giving, or going. Check out our Local Outreach page or Missions page for more information on how you can get involved.

PRAYER

Father, please give me the courage to be a faithful witness for Your kingdom locally and nationally. Continue to strengthen our brothers and sisters who are serving the unreached globally. Amen.

Matt Williams
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