What's the most valuable thing you've ever lost? Maybe it was something small but important, like a passport. You search everywhere, hoping it will turn up, only to realize it's truly gone. That it is canceled, separated, useless to you.

Jesus tells three parables about lost things being found and the celebration that follows. But He is speaking of a specific kind of "lost". A lost that is a separation so complete that it means destruction. The Greek word "apollumi" doesn't just mean misplaced; it means ruined, perished, utterly cut off.