No One Left Behind

In the Bible are many stories of things that were lost.

There is one story about a lady who lost her coin.

She spent a long time searching for it. This woman swept the floor diligently and found her coin. She was so happy and relieved that she called her neighbors to rejoice with her over finding the lost coin. Another parable Jesus told, described in the old hymn “There Were Ninety and Nine,” tells about a lost sheep. When one little sheep wandered away, the shepherd went out to find the wayward one, leaving the ninety-nine sheep.

He searched and searched in the mountains and the ravines, and finally, after getting his clothes torn and dirty, he found his sheep caught in a thicket.

He picked it up and, carrying it close to his heart, returned the lamb to the fold, where it was safe once again. When I was young, our cat Tessie had kittens.

She had the first one outside, so I brought them both into the warm laundry room, where she had another kitten. But she kept trying to get up and go outside.

I put her face by the kitten I had brought inside, but she still wanted to go outside. Finally, I realized what she wanted. I put the newborn kitten back outside, and sure enough, Tessie brought it back in, lay down in her bed, and had three more kittens.

I learned my cat Tessie could “count” and needed to go through the motions of bringing her own kitten inside. When my boys were young, they had some neighbor boys over to play. After a while, I overheard one of the neighbor boys whisper, “Let’s not play with another boy.” My boys were not sure what to do. “Why not?” they asked.

I said everyone should play together, and if they could not do this, they should go home. Immediately, they decided they wanted to play together.

Jesus was all about inclusion. He did not want anyone to feel left out. After the disciples decided the children were a bother, Jesus encouraged the mothers to bring them to Him so He could bless them (Matthew 19:13–15). How I would have loved to bring my children to Jesus. Every time we exhibit a Christlike character, we are bringing people to Him.

Let us not forget we are Christ’s ambassadors on this earth! What an awesome responsibility we have!

Gyl Moon Bateman