June Scripture Writing Challenge Redeemed
It is calving season on the farm. Each day my daughter and I go out and check on the calves. We count the calves. We look for new calves. We look for cows who may be struggling to give birth. It is one of my favorite jobs on the farm. Seeing new life on the farm brings a smile to my face.
A few days ago, we were counting calves and noticed one was missing. Now if you know anything about cattle, when they start to calve, the mothers gather up the calves and they all stick together. It really is an amazing instinct that God gave them. One or two mothers stay with the calves while the other mothers go off grazing. There is safety in numbers.
Anyway, the missing calf was not with the group of calves. There wasn’t a distressed mother looking for her calf, so we weren’t sure what was going on. My daughter and I began searching through the pasture, which isn’t easy since our pasture is very hilly. We walked up a big hill and there in the corner, tucked into some tall grass was the little calf all curled up sleeping. We had found the lost calf and got him up and reunited him with his mother.
There is a similar story in the Bible. It is found in Luke 15:4-7. It is the parable of the lost sheep.
It is a story of redemption. Here is what Jesus says:
4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Our June Scripture writing challenge will focus on redemption.
Do you have a story of redemption?
Before we get into the episode, let’s review May’s Scripture writing. In May We wrote Prayer verses. I hope you enjoyed writing the verses and writing down 5 things to pray for and start praying for 5 minutes each day. Now let’s talk about our habit stack so far.
- In February we started writing a verse a day
- In March we added reading a chapter in the Bible each day
- In April we added writing down 5 things we are thankful for each day.
- In May we added writing down 5 things to pray for and then pray for them.
- We will not be adding any habits in June, but we will continue to build the 4 habits we have started over the past few months.
Now let’s talk about this month’s scripture writing. We are going to write verses about redemption.
What is redemption?
I know in my brain what it is. I even know in my heart what it is, but when I was preparing for this podcast, I couldn’t articulate a definition of redemption. So I looked it up in the Vines Bible Dictionary, Redemption it means to buy out, especially of purchasing a slave with a view to his freedom. (Galatian 3:13, 4:5) It also means to release on receipt of ransom or by paying a ransom price. (Luke 24:21, Titus 2:14)
We are going to talk about the four significant parts of every redemption story, whether it’s your story or mine.
- Something valuable is lost
- There is an intensive search that occurs
- That which was lost is found
- There is a great celebration both on Earth and in Heaven.
Let’s talk about the lost sheep. . . the shepherd lost one sheep. He left the other 99 to search for the sheep. He found the sheep. He celebrated with his friends and as we read in verse 7 . . . .I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
The next parable in Luke 15 is the parable of the lost coin
8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
The third parable is Luke 15 is the parable of the lost son
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
Element 1 - Something Valuable is Lost
In each parable, the lost item had immense value to the main character. The caretaker or owner knew the misplaced thing was valuable and that it was nowhere to be found. Also, that did not discount the worth of many valuable items surrounding them.
With each of these stories of God’s redemption, Jesus’ Points out that God deeply values things that are lost. In other words, He sees lost people — irreligious, immoral, sinful people — as valuable and worthy of finding. And if we know God, we should, too.
Element 2 - There’s an intensive search that occurs.
The characters in these stories don’t shrug their shoulders and ignore the lost things; every stone is turned in an effort to find what is lost.
As a picture of God, He is not waiting for the lost thing to present itself. Rather, He is actively drawing them to Himself.
There’s an intensive search:
The shepherd desperately looks for the sheep.
The woman turned her house upside down.
The father was willing to embarrass himself to show the son love.
Jesus is making this point — God is waiting, searching, looking, and longing for unsaved people that don’t want to have anything to do with Him. He’s pursuing them.
The Father isn’t relaxing and waiting for lost people to get it together and come to Him. He’s pursuing after them, turning over every stone to find them.
Right now, He’s actively drawing YOU to Himself.
He pursues us even when we’re at the bottom, in despair. He’s not waiting for you, He’s lovingly chasing after you!
Elements 3 - That which was lost is found.
Being found is synonymous with repentance. The root word in the New Testament for “repent” is the idea of a change of mind, like being deeply sorry or sad about your behavior.
Let’s take another look at the third parable, in which the father represents God. The two sons depict immoral sinners: the younger son is like the immoral people Jesus has been hanging out with, and the older son is like the Pharisees who are questioning Him.
Can you see the main difference between the sons? It’s not their behavior, because both are slaves — one to his impulses, and one to his duty. But only one boy seems to recognize his hopelessness.
Like us, he goes from hopelessness to low spirits, a sense of futility, despair, dejection, and ultimately, desperation. In these moments of desperation, we have a window of time when we can come to our senses and recognize our misplaced hope. And then we realize: That doesn’t have the power to fill me up. It can’t be my hope.
He then realizes that he’s blown it and he would do anything to be back with his family, even as a hired hand. He comes to his senses and says, “I’m going to TURN around and go back to my father.”
His hope was now in the father; he repented.
The son confessed, acknowledging that he sinned against his father, owning his folly. This is repentance.
Is repentance part of your story of God’s redemption? Have you owned your folly and your misplaced hope and turned to the Father?
Element 4 - A great celebration follows
Our human instinct is to try and repay the Father for what He’s done.
Like the son in Luke 15 who wanted to make things right with his father, we try and even the scales with our good works and our sincere effort.
But God says to us — as the father said to the son — “It’s not about what you can do; it’s about WHO I AM and how I feel about you and how much I love you. I want to receive you to myself.”
And to demonstrate that point, he throws a party to celebrate our repentance. In the story, the father threw an incredible party, both to celebrate and to publicly honor this repentant son.
There is hope. Jesus is hope. And it’s never too late — no matter your age or history — to repent and be restored.
