Carnage & Grace: Confessions of an Adulterous Heart

by Tullian Tchividjian

But get this—both sons started out in the house, right? Both were found, so to speak, but then got lost. And that same reality plays out in the two lesser-known parables in Luke 15. In both of those cases, the lost sheep and the lost coin were at one time not lost. The lost sheep was in the fold, and the lost coin was in the pocket. The lost sheep wandered off, and the lost coin was misplaced. Again, the point I’m making is that neither started off lost. So, to interpret these parables as instructional guides on the lengths we “found-people” should go to find the “lost-people” (the way I was taught) is to misinterpret them. Not to mention, it downplays the reality of how quickly and easily we all get lost along the way. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.” Rather than these parables being about God’s job description for us, they portray God’s unflagging commitment to constantly come after those who once were found but now are lost. To put it bluntly, these aren’t parables about found people pursuing lost people. These are parables about God pursuing found people who get lost.