Verse of the Day — Thursday, July 30, 2026
Luke 15:4
Luke 15:4. The Verse of the Day for Thursday, July 30, 2026, with a short reflection.
Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?
Luke 15:4
What this verse means
Jesus tells this to people who resented him for keeping company with outsiders: any shepherd would leave ninety-nine sheep to go after the one that wandered off, and that, he says, is how God feels about a single lost person.
Jesus says this to a group of religious leaders who are annoyed that he spends his time with the wrong kind of people. Instead of arguing, he asks a question anyone can answer. If you had a hundred sheep and lost one, wouldn't you leave the rest and go looking until you found it? Of course you would. That, he says, is how God treats one person who has drifted away.
It is the first of three stories he tells in a row, the lost sheep, a lost coin, and a runaway son, and each one ends the same way, with a search and then a celebration. The point is not that one sheep out of a hundred goes missing. It is that the shepherd bothers to go, that the single one is worth the trouble, and that finding it turns into joy.
