Bible Stories: The Lost Sheep
A man once had a large flock of sheep - 100 in all. One day he was busy counting them and realised he had one misssing. He counted them again just to make sure, ninety eight, ninety nine! No he was definately one missing.
The shepherd was frantic with worry, he searched all over the hillside worrying about what could have happened to her. He thought of all the worst things. He wondered if a wolf had caught her and eaten her! Had she fallen into the stream and drowned! “Oh dear,” he said, “What could have happened, where could she be?”
He went out late into the night looking for her, ignoring all the other sheep and at last he found the lost sheep at the top of the mountain. She had strayed far away from all the other sheep, thinking that she could find better, more juicier grass.
How happy the shepherd was, he picked her up and put her on his back. He carried her all the way home. In his heart the shepherd was happier about the one sheep who was lost but now was found, than all the other ninety nine others who had stayed where he wanted them too.
Jesus said that God is happier about one person who comes to believe in Him in the end than about ninety nine people who have believed in Him all along. Maybe that seems unfair to you, but if you remember how you felt when you found the precious thing you lost, perhaps you can understand what Jesus meant.