In our Scripture there are four lost items—a sheep, a coin, a prodigal son, and his elder brother. The first three are obviously lost. The fourth is lost and doesn’t know it. He is the tragic one. He does not have any awareness of lostness. He never strayed or broke the rules, and yet he missed out on the gift of the father’s extravagant love. Shakespeare said that the wise man knows himself to be a fool. The fool thinks he is a wise man. Let me rephrase that and say, “The wise person knows when
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