An increasing number of people are being forced to question whether there is more to life than just their daily existence. There are many different events which lead them to this point. Sometimes it’s the stark feeling of insecurity that comes from redundancy. Sometimes it’s a relationship that’s broken down. Sometimes it’s ill health. Whatever the cause the effect is the same: a feeling of life not being worthwhile and what’s worse the depressing feeling that there’s no-one who cares how you feel. It’s true of course that this feeling is not unique to the time that we live in. The experiences which would have led to this feeling in the past may have been different, but the pain felt was just as intense. People felt this pain 2000 years ago when the Lord Jesus Christ went to towns and villages to tell the Jewish people that God cared for them. Jesus made the point of explaining that God was particularly concerned about those people who had drifted away from Him.

Jesus made his point by telling his listeners a story. He used the illustration of someone who owned 100 sheep. He asked his listeners what they thought the owner would do if he lost one sheep. They knew the answer was that he would go and look for it. Jesus added that the owner would be happier about the one sheep that had been found than all the others in the flock. This was how God felt about people who drifted away, but came back, and it was a message of hope to those who heard Jesus’ words. God still feels this way today, the Bible tells us. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV Jesus still makes the call, through the pages of the Bible, to those who will listen, and he offers the same message of hope and assurance that there is some one who cares. Have you heard His call?