GOD MATH: A Family DevotionalSample

1 Sheep > 99 Sheep

It’s time for a regular math lesson again! These signs: > and <, show you which number is bigger. Imagine them like an alligator mouth, and the alligator chomps the bigger number. In normal math, we’d say 1 sheep is less than 99 sheep, which looks like 1 < 99.

But we’re not doing regular math…we’re doing God Math! And in God Math, 1 sheep is greater than 99 sheep. Is it because the one sheep is actually a super giant sheep and is way bigger than 99 sheep all put together? Nope! Jesus is just showing us how very important all people are to him.

Jesus had two main kinds of people he talked to: people who knew they were sinners, and people who thought they were good people. The good people didn’t think it was appropriate for Jesus to hang out with sinners, so Jesus told them this story to show how much God loves sinners. The wild part, however, is that everyone is a sinner! So even though the teachers and Pharisees thought they were part of the 99, they were also just like the one lost sheep. They just didn’t know it yet.

Conversation Starters:

•Brainstorm another God Math equation for this story!

•Where do you see yourself in this story? Do you feel like one of Jesus’ lost sheep, like a lost sheep that Jesus already found, or like the people who thought they weren’t lost sheep at all?

Prayer prompt:

Thank Jesus for being like the shepherd in this story. Tell him about where you see yourself in the story.