Details
- AfraOpoku
- April 27, 2025
- Uncategorized
- 0 Comments
I’ve always had a fascination for detail minded people.
Those who stay up until the last decimal of the budget balances.
Those who ensure the measurement on blueprint are on point. Those who refuse to leave until every pesewa is accounted for.
From administering the right life-saving dose to incorporating the exact amount of steel to guarantee structural integrity, details make the world go round.
Speaking for myself, when you’re the recipient of the positive end of detail-minded folks, you remain grateful for God’s genetic distribution of nerdiness.
There are parts of my life where I emphasize detail. Those are parts which tend to boost my productivity. In a lot of situations though, I tend to be more ‘big-picture person, especially when I’m not dealing with a life-or-death situation.
I’m happy to eyeball the amount of salt I cook with, and round off to the nearest decimal when I get tired of pouring over numbers and I’ve been known to skip the dusty ceiling fan because the rest of the house is clean.
You know who surprises me with His attention to detail?
God.
Of all the stories in scripture, few can point to His attention to detail as well as this one.
A story that could have been told by anyone was conveniently narrated by the Son of God.
If Moses had told this parable, we probably would have just credited Moses for being detail-minded enough to draft prose in such a form.
The fact that Jesus tells it, gives us a sharply defined lens to view why God emphasizes details human would normally ignore.
I’m talking about the parable of the lost.1
The sheep. The coin. The son.
The first two examples were not critical losses.
The shepherd had 99 other sheep.2
Most business people don’t obsess over a one percent loss.
Somehow Jesus expected more from the men in that crowd
He was happy with his 99, but not enough to forget the one.
The shepherd didn’t consider the fact that he might lose more sheep. He diligently went in search for the missing 1.
God expected the same attitude from the women.
The woman Jesus cited in this parable stood to lose more. One of her 10 coins was gone. A 10 percent loss can be accepted for big picture people.
Not for this woman.
She turned on all the lights and pulled the vacuum (oops – wrong century!) broom out, and searched as though her life depended on it.
Where I come from, you don’t sweep at night.
Madam 9 coins didn’t care.
She was going to find her last coin if it meant spring cleaning through midnight in the dead of winter.
Bottom line: The Shepherd and the woman had no concept of rounding to the lowest number.
God showed us what he expects us to do.
Then He showed us what His Father was willing to do
Unlike the first two, the last example was no hypothetical.
This was a high stakes loss
The prodigal son.
Or as I like to call it, “the looking Father”
It wasn’t the Father’s fault that his son left.
Unlike the amoral sheep and coin, the son had a choice – as did the Father.
Considering everything that happened, it would make sense if the father honoured his decision to be cut off and closed the book on the one who used to be his son
Not this Father.
Even though he couldn’t help his son, his heart longed for him on a daily basis
How do I know that?
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.3
When you run towards a child who has proverbially spat in your face, it speaks to your lack of ego and the kind of heart you have for your boy.
Keep in mind that this father had another son. One who had walked the straight and narrow and didn’t need a fresh helping of wisdom.
The father could have sent security to go ward him off, he could have sent a servant to direct the prodigal to the servant’s quarters.
He didn’t.
In that moment, the Father saw a repentant soul returning to the place where he was most loved, a love that remained strong in spite of past abuse.
That I have to tell you, should speak relief to those of us who have a tendency to mess things up with our Father.
God’s attention to detail doesn’t allow him to pretend you never existed.
The Father has a heart that misses you when you get lost, a heart that longs to have you come back home.
All three lost different things under different circumstances.
All three celebrated when they found that which they didn’t give up on.
All three wouldn’t settle for less than enough.
All three showcase the fact that God holds space for everything He’s made.
That’s a poignant message in this parable.
He’s not lost sight of you or the things that concerns you.
When it comes to details, He who knows your current hair-count,4 puts the nerdiest nerd to shame.
How comforting is that?
1 Luke 15:1-32
2 Luke 15 v 3 – 6
3 Luke 15v20
4 Mathew 10: 30