You Chase After Me

Have you ever been lost before? Or have you ever experienced the feeling of losing something or someone very important?

This happened to me a couple of years ago as I traveled internationally with two of my sons. We had just made it through customs and were at the baggage claim area in the Newark airport when my 10-year-old needed to use the restroom. So I pointed to where it was, just a few yards away, and told him to come right back to the spot where we were waiting at the luggage carousel. After about 10 minutes, he still hadn’t returned to us, and I was getting very worried. So, my oldest son and I headed to the bathrooms to look for him. We searched the entire area and he wasn’t there. My heart began to fill with panic and desperation as I called out my son’s name. I raced to the other side of the baggage area and kept crying out his name and searching desperately through the sea of people for him. Tears welled up in my eyes as I feared for his safety and wellbeing. But, nothing could deter me from searching every inch of that airport until my precious son was back by my side. All of a sudden, I heard someone yell, “Mom!” and I saw my son and a police officer walking towards me. I ran to my son who had tears streaming down his face, and I just held him. In that moment, all I could feel was sheer love, relief, and gratitude that my son was found and back in the safety of my arms.

Recently, it struck me that the love and desperation I felt for my son that day was just a glimpse of what the shepherd in this story is experiencing for his lost sheep. As Jesus told this parable, he explained how the shepherd’s love knows no boundaries, and he would go to any length to bring his sheep that went astray back into his care. He searches high and low and chases after each lost sheep with the fiercest of love. It is a love that is personal and that will not stop searching “until he finds it.” Oh, what love He has for each one! Let that love sink in and flood your heart for just a moment.

Then, when He has found his sheep, there is a joyous celebration! He doesn’t question and shame the sheep, saying, “Where have you been? Why did you leave the safety of the fold?” Instead, Jesus said that the Shepherd joyfully picks up that sheep and carries it home on his shoulders. Then, he gathers all his friends to celebrate with him over the return of what is so dear to him.

How often do we, like sheep, wander and go our own way? We think that we know what is best and can be our own guide in life. So, we keep running and looking for greener pastures until we end up so lost, lonely, and confused that we end up starving ourselves. We encounter many predators and incur so many injuries along the way that we become in need of serious physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Maybe we allow voices of guilt, shame, fear, or pride to keep us stuck.

But this story brings so much hope as we see the unconditional, relentless love of the shepherd. Jesus says that He is our Good Shepherd. He proved His great love for us when He laid down his life for all of us. He died on the cross and took all the sins of humankind upon Himself. He never gives up on us when we wander and stray. He desperately longs to bring us into relationship and nearness with Him. His love keeps searching “until” we are found. It is never too late to turn towards our Shepherd’s voice and enter His embrace. We can run full speed, with all our brokenness and bruises, into His loving arms. Will you let Him be your hope today? Will you let Him have access to all of the physical and psychological wounds that you carry? Will you surrender your own way and invite Jesus to be your loving Shepherd and Guide?

Prayer: Thank you, God, for your great love for me. Thank you for sending your son Jesus to lay down His life for me, so that I may be free from all of my sin and shame and enter into a relationship with you. I open my heart and invite Jesus in to be my Shepherd. In Jesus name, Amen.

Listen to the song or watch the video as you think about this story.