To Seek and to Save the Lost
Month 9: The Road to Jerusalem · Memory Verse
Today's Scripture
Read together: Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Memory Verse
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””— Luke 19:10 (BSB)memorize this week
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Daniel 5–7
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Around Day 263 of 365 — handwriting on the wall, and a kingdom that never ends.)The Heart of It
This one short verse is like a window into Jesus' whole heart. It comes right at the end of the Zacchaeus story, and it explains everything He did. Why did Jesus stop under that tree? Why did He eat with sinners, touch lepers, and welcome the children? Because "the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Jesus did not drift through Galilee by accident. He had a mission, and the mission was people. They were people who had wandered far from God and could not find their own way home. Notice two beautiful action words: seek and save. He looks for us, and then He rescues us.
"Son of Man" was Jesus' favorite name for Himself. It points back to a vision in , which our reading covers today! It is a vision of One who comes with authority from God to reign forever. So this verse joins two amazing truths in one breath. Jesus is the mighty King with all authority. And He uses that authority not to be served, but to come down low and search out lost sinners, like a shepherd looking for one missing sheep (). The King left His throne to come find you. When you say this verse this week, let it sink in. You were not too far gone for Jesus to come looking.
Around the Table
Let's learn it with motions! "Seek" — hand over your eyes, looking. "Save" — pull someone close in a hug. Jesus seeks us and saves us!
Let's do it: Play a quick game of hide-and-seek, then say, "Jesus came to seek and to save the lost!"
Two big words: seek (look for) and save (rescue). Jesus does both.
Let's talk: Can you say the whole verse from memory? Try it three times, a little faster each time.
"Son of Man" links Jesus to the all-authority King of . Yet that King came to seek the lost.
Let's go deeper: Why is it so amazing that the most powerful Person used His power to rescue the weakest?
💬 Conversation Starter
If you lost your favorite thing in the whole house, how hard would you look for it? That's how Jesus looks for people!
🛡️ Defending the Faith
People sometimes claim the church should only welcome the already-respectable. But Jesus said His mission was to seek the lost (). A church that only wants the "found" has forgotten why Jesus came.
For Dad · Go Deeper
Memory work is more than mental exercise. It plants God's own words deep, where the Spirit can draw on them for years (). This verse is worth planting carefully, because it is the mission statement of Jesus' life. And it should become the mission statement of your home. A family shaped by keeps a porch light on for the lost. Think of the prodigal cousin, the hard neighbor, the wandering teen. As you rehearse the verse together this week, let it search you too. Are there people you have quietly written off as too far gone? Jesus did not write off Zacchaeus, and He has not written off them. Lead your kids to pray by name for someone who seems far from God.
Draws on: Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer.
Let's Pray Together
"Jesus, thank You that You came to seek and to save the lost. Write this verse on our hearts. Help our family love the people You came to find. In Jesus' name, amen."
The King left His throne to come looking for me — I am sought, and I am saved.