I have a well-deserved reputation for absent-mindedness. The cliché, “He would lose his head if it wasn’t attached” is an apt description of my lack of attentiveness to things! As a result, I frequently lose keys, wallets, and money (As I write, my warmest hat and gloves are both missing. Right before writing this, I found my mask.) Inevitably, this sparks the need for a frantic search around the bedroom, living room, spare bedroom, kitchen, etc.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a lost coin. Jesus describes the story of a woman who frantically searches for this lost coin. Upon discovering its “hiding place”, she eagerly tells her friends of her discovery. “Rejoice with me”, she says, “for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Jesus compares the joy of the woman to the joy God has when he finds one of his lost children. What a picture! God, rather than stoically hoping we find him or playing proverbial hide and seek with us, actively seeks us and rejoices when we are reunited.
The God described in this parable is a God who passionately loves us. It is the nature of God’s love to seek. It is a love that misses us, seeks us, and desires us. “He is jealous for me,” the songwriter David Crowder wrote in his song How He Loves Us. His love isn’t covetous or possessive like a scorned, jealous lover. However, his love is consuming, good, and powerful. This week, as we celebrate Valentine’s Day, let’s remember that God showed his love for us by giving more than just chocolate, roses, and cards. He gave himself, he continues to give to us today, and he will give to us into eternity.Walter Pierce