The Woman and the Silver Coin
Luke 15:8-10 Or what woman
having ten silver coins, if she loses one silver coin, does not light a
lamp and sweep the house and seek carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, "Rejoice with me,
for I have found the coin which I lost. In the same way, I tell you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
repenting.
WORDS OF MINISTRY: The lamp signifies the word
of God (Psa 119:105, 130) used by the Spirit to enlighten and expose the
sinner's position and condition so that he may repent. As indicated by
the parable of the seeking woman, the Spirit enlightens us inwardly. As
this seeking woman, the Spirit enlightens our inner being little by
little in a fine careful way. The Spirit enlightens our mind, then our
emotion and will, and then our conscience and our entire heart. It is in
this way that the Spirit "finds" us.
As the result of the
Spirit's finding us through enlightening us, we wake up and come to
ourselves and realize how foolish it is to stay where we are. We do not
wake ourselves up; on the contrary, we are awakened by the enlightening
of the seeking Spirit. This seeking, enlightening, and finding of the
Spirit takes place neither in wilderness nor on the cross; it happens in
our heart. This results in repentance, which is a change in our mind
that produces a change in the direction of our life.
The fact
that the Spirit's finding us takes place within the "house" of our being
reveals that we were lost in ourselves. We were lost in our mind, will,
and emotion. We were not merely lost in the wilderness--we were lost in
ourselves. Christ died on the cross to bring us back from the
wilderness of the world, yet we remain lost in ourselves. Therefore, the
Spirit finds us in ourselves. We can testify of this from our
experience. When the Spirit enlightened our mind, emotion, will,
conscience, and heart, then we began to repent.
This repentance
resulting from the enlightening of the Spirit is altogether an inward
matter. No human being and no angel is able to do such a subjective work
in us. This can be done only by the penetrating Spirit, for the Spirit
is able to penetrate the depths of our being to enlighten us and expose
us. Then we realize how foolish we are, we repent, and we decide to come
back to the Father.
Saint James Assembly of Faith
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