I read a quote today from Rob Smith's book, Teaching For Doctrines The Commandments of Men:
"One lost heathen who is kind means more to heaven than ninety-nine close-fisted Pharisees."
What a great quote. I think it accurately portrays the heaven and the God I have come to know.
This quote got me thinking about the 99. The scriptures teach us in Matthew 18 and Luke 15 that Christ leaves the 99 who went not astray to find the one, and that there was more joy in heaven for that one than for the 99. The version in Luke has Jesus using sarcasm so great that it's almost caustic, talking about the 99 "just" persons who need no repentance. It seems likely to me that both the Matthew account and the Luke account are talking about the same event. Whatever he said, Christ thought more highly of the one sheep that was found than he did of the 99 that did not.
So my question for you is, are you one of the sheep who is astray? Or are you one who is safe in the sheepfold, not having gone astray and therefore needing no repentance? Do you go out and find the sheep who are lost and astray and coax them back to the sheepfold, or do you recognize that YOU are the sheep, and seek for the shepherd, and let Him do His work to gather his sheep?
