gospel story: the Spirit is carefully seeking for us (the lost coin) until He finds us

She couldn’t find it! She knew she had put in somewhere. But now it was lost and she was having a hard time locating it. She had lost a most precious silver coin. She was a hard-working woman whose labor earned her one silver coin a day. Therefore she treasured every coin she earned and worked diligently until she had in her possession a total of ten coins.

Yet when she came home one day, she found that one of her coins was missing. “I have to find that coin!” she determined. She took her lamp and lit it in the darkness of her home. Light filled the room.

She then grabbed her broom and started sweeping, hoping to clear away any dirt that might be covering the coin. Dust began flying everywhere. She pushed the furniture aside and checked under the table. No coin!

On her hands and knees, she crawled along the floor, her eyes scanning the area as she went. Finally, after a careful search through the entire house, she found it!

This is a story about you. God considers you as His lost coin and even before you ever heard about Him, you were a treasure of worth in His hands. Yet you became lost and fell into the filth of sins. Now, unawaringly, you are living amidst the dust of sin and corruption. And yet in the quietness and comfort of your life, you have a deep sensation that something is beginning to stir in your life. This is the Spirit of God moving to find you.

Like that woman, the Spirit of God searches for you by doing three things:

Firstly, He lights a lamp. This lamp is the shining of His word that speaks of a Savior named Jesus who “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He loves you, and by His death on the cross, He has done everything to release you from your sins by His shed blood (Revelation 1:5). These words are words of light that the Spirit uses to shine in you and convict you of sin, righteousness and the upcoming judgment which all men will face (John 16:8).

Secondly, the Spirit begins to sweep in your heart. And just as that woman stirred up a cloud of dust in her home, you also may experience a kind of disturbance in your life due to the Spirit’s sweeping work. Family conflict, homework overload, social pressures, inward restlessness, and future anxieties are just a few things that may make you feel that, in your life, … “dust is flying everywhere.”

You may begin to encounter things that cause you to stop and ponder over your life. You may ask “what is the meaning of my life?” or “Where is my life going?” Questions like these come from the Spirit’s sweeping within you. He wants to awaken you to see that you are lost and He yearns to restore you back to Himself.

Finally, He seeks carefully until He finds you. He treasures you, and considers you worth looking for. Thus, He hopes that the work He does within you would bring you to repentance and cause you to confess His name. Now is the time for you to be found by Him. Simply pray:

Lord Jesus, I am lost in sin. Today I repent and turn to you. I believe in You and thank you for sweeping in my heart. Come into me, Lord Jesus.

[guest post: Read this short gospel message online also on facebook, TheGospel OfGod – Dust was Flying Everywhere!]