Jesus has been teaching about being humble like little children and entering the kingdom of heaven.10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.REFLECTIONSWritten by Vinh DangFor a farmer who owns a flock of sheep, the natural response when one of his sheep goes missing is to do everything in his power to seek and save that sheep. How great is it to be truly loved and cherished by our heavenly Father – that he seeks us out and finds us so that we will not perish. I am reminded of how much Jesus cares for his people.The passage challenged me in my thinking, because it reminded me that in my natural state I myself do not seek God. I still struggle with the sinful tendency to wander away from him. We’re like silly, wandering sheep. But something I find encouraging in this passage is that if I am indeed in Jesus Christ, and have wandered away from God, He will not leave me but will seek me and bring me back.As I reflected on the passage, I also remembered the wonderful truth of the gospel, that the way Jesus saves us is by his death on the cross. He doesn’t only seek out His lost sheep, he is the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). We are the sheep of Jesus’ pasture because He bought us with the terrible cost of His blood. There are no words to express how much gratitude we should have knowing what he has done for us.  My prayer is that we will remember Jesus’ words to us: “Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish” (v. 14).God demonstrates His faithfulness to his people in Jesus’ death, and the promise is to all of Jesus followers, so give thanks to God for His endless grace and the love He has for His people, as seen in His Son Jesus.ABOUT THE AUTHORVinh is a member of our Fairfield Evening congregation.