In Pursuit of The Lost Value: A Biblical Perspective on Restoring Wholeness

If a cent is lost from a million dollars, is the financial status the same? You would instantly agree that the status of the million is minus. For us mortals, it is lost and found. To lose is woeful grief and to find is joy. The human structure consists of three major values that make us one: body, soul, and spirit. Our bodies alone are a cosmos within a cosmos. We hold galaxies of cells, organs, and systems, and were we to drop a mass or atom of ourselves, the physician would say we are unhealthy or unwholesome. Our soul, expressed through the personality, entails mind, will, and emotions. If we were to lose any portions of these, we would be unable to meet the marketable demands of life and the therapist would say we are dysfunctional. Finally, our spirit, regarded as our highest value that functions as our conscience, is intuitive and a dwelling for God’s spirit (Nee,1968). If our spirit is divided from the Divine Source, the preacher calls us lost. Therefore, wholeness is the sermon.

‘Wholeness is the quality of being complete or a single unit and not broken or divided into parts’ (HarperCollins, 2021). It is a state where all areas of ourselves are constantly being recovered to its oneness and unity. Loss implies a division or dislocation of a valuable unit of ourselves. It is when the wholeness becomes fragmented. At this juncture, the emphasis is on the worth of the psychic pearl which in this realm refers to the human mind and all its fundamental elements, the effects of dispossessing any part of it, and how we might retrieve this lost pearl through the fables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the squandering son found in Luke’s Gospel in the Bible.

The Inestimable Value Of Psychic Wholeness

Our soul is a treasured possession. It is a composite treasure in that it is an all-inclusive structure, making us adequate and self-supporting. We are loaded and lacking nothing. The parable of the lost sheep settles the weighty value of just one. The good shepherd here has a hundred sheep and it appears a little bizarre that he would leave the ninety-nine in quest of one with the risk of losing all. However, he values the lost sheep for two apparent reasons: he was not a hireling but a shepherd. As a result, he was a zealous seeker because it was his precious possession, and had the right to restore it. Next, he valued the one because he understood the incredible richness of the fullness of the whole. Inside wholeness and completeness, we are deeply enriched by the unutterable sweetness of the fullness. There is a fountain of an abundance of inner peace and restfulness. This is our right as godlike beings, a right to completeness because our Creator is full and complete. From this abundance of wealth, we flow naturally and ignite our fellowmen through a fruitful and purposeful existence.

Private Paradise Lost!

The psychic in good standing makes us healthy and so the dispossession of even one currency of the treasure leads to devaluation and dysfunction in the mind. The parable of the wayward son tells of the younger son requesting his portion from his father and departing from home. He later finds himself dining with pigs after his foolish and depraved lifestyle. The lost son entered his rational mind and realized that he was in a state of degradation; he had lost his self-identity and self-esteem. It is noteworthy to point out that he was losing his oneness with his father, who is symbolic of willpower, reasoning, and order, long before he left home. The lost son was losing stability and rationality, long before his request and the series of events was just a confirmation and progression of his lost state. We bruise differently and in varying degrees owning to the multitude of assaults, calamities, and ordeals of life.

Cracking Open: On Retrieving The Lost Coin

It would be terrifying if we had no hope, thus, for us and the lost value, there is hope. Another motivating tale in this Gospel is of the woman with ten silver coins and displaces one. We find her lighting a lamp, taking a sweeper, and searching diligently for the coin. Hither, it is of utmost importance to point out that she had taken a lamp to launch her hunt which suggests her willingness to suffer the cost of replacing the oil (Eck, 2019). The besom used was to ensure that all grounds were covered and that the coin could be regained even if it fell in the deepest cracks. Coins are often emblematic of completeness, and the number ten signifies perfection. With this in mind, for us to regain the misplaced value, we first have to come to alertness that one is lost. The shepherd knew he had lost a sheep, the prodigal came to a consciousness of his lost state and here the woman knew a coin had fallen. We start searching in light, from an awareness. When there is an awareness of loss then we must yield ourselves to a place of acceptance and only then can we come to a willingness to crack open the self with a searchlight to sweep away the dust, to dive deep into the ocean of the self to repossess that precious pearl. It takes self-examination and responsibility. To find the lost currency represents a meticulous search. An echo of Herod’s suggestion ‘Search diligently for the young child.’ The search is time-bound and may sometimes be costly, but If time can heal a broken heart then it can retrieve a lost value, and the sooner the retrieval, the less costly it is. We may view it as an opportunity to become antifragile. Paradise can be regained! Seek and you will discover it!

The Journey of Wholeness

We are in essence body, spirit, and soul. As a result, wholeness can ne'er be seen as a destination, it is an adventure. We can never be perfect, but our main goal in life is to find ourselves in a position of perfecting and becoming more and more wholesome. If we were to be entirely full at once then we would be taken like Enoch. However, we must strive to be functional in body, spirit, and soul as they are all interacting. The voyage is different for everyone and balm looks differently. Despite that, the goal is for us to set out on the journey of wholeness. If we truthfully survey our lives and without denial, we can detect areas of loss and we must accept responsibility to re-wed the disjointed parts of ourselves.

The Fruits of Wholeness

There is hope in finding and when it is found there is joy. The father celebrates the return of the lost son with a feast. He is rewarded for returning to his soundness. The woman celebrates with her friends and neighbours and the shepherd is jubilant with his friends and neighbours. That is the value of finding the lost, it causes joy to not only us but our fellowmen. As the poet Derek Walcott (1976)wrote brilliantly:

‘with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.’

May we reap the joy of labouring for what was lost! May we have sweet communion, body, spirit, soul in the fellowship with all layers of our beautiful selves! Enter all my being into oneness.

References

Eck, V. E. (2019). A realistic reading of the parable of the Lost Coin in Q: Gaining or losing even more? Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.za.

HarperCollins. (2021). Wholesome. In Collins English dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.collinsdictionary.com

Nee, W. (1968). The Spiritual Man. Retrieved from https://www.biblesnet.com

Spacey, A. (2020). Analysis of Poem "Love After Love" by Derek Walcott. https://owlcation.com.