I Once Was Lost!

Read: Luke 19:10

It is interesting to me since I like words, that words have shades of meaning when describing different circumstances and when they are used by different people. For example, the word lost. Only yesterday I "lost" the big box that is designed to hold the artificial tree when it is taken down. Yes, it was finally time to put away the tree, and I couldn't find the box. I would call it lost even though it is merely "hiding" in the house. Laughing each time I pass it by. I ended up putting the tree in a 42-gallon heavy-duty trash bag and calling it good.

However, for a far different use of the word lost, may I take you back to November of last year. It was then that I heard a story that vividly painted a picture of what it truly can look like to be lost. In Chicago in late November, a husband and wife left a hospital together. I don't know if they had been visiting someone or if they were themselves staying there. Both suffered with dementia, and both became lost. Of course, the police put out descriptions so that the public could be looking for them. Chicago in November and Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez were lost. I learned that Mrs. Rodriguez was found and safe, but no one had found Carlos, her husband. I remember feeling so sad to think of them having been separated and Mr. Rodriguez having not been found. I looked again today to see if there were an up-date concerning this gentleman; however, I found no additional news. Hopefully, Mr. Rodriguez was found and brought back home. Talk about the contrast between having been lost and having been found. In Mrs. Rodriguez's case, she needed a Rescuer, and someone did just that for her! What a vivid picture.

These thoughts came together for me this morning because of a statement I heard that a pastor made. These are not his exact words because I can't recall precisely the words he chose. The gist of it was that he was asking people not to speak of needing a Savior because those words would be a stumbling block to some who attend his church. I am surely no apologist, but hearing his words caused me to think back to that couple with dementia as well as Jesus' own words concerning His earthly mission. He came to seek and save the lost. People He loved who were lost and in need of saving. That describes each of us. Ones who might have no difficulty navigating around Chicago but who are just as lost as those elderly folks were. He came for people like me who were without resources or remedy. We all are in the same boat. We need a Rescuer/Savior. Jesus said it clearly. That is why He came, Luke 19:10. At another time, Jesus painted the same picture. He saw the crowd as they truly were. Sheep who had no Shepherd, Matthew 9:35-38.

People aren't merely misguided or in need of a good example. We all come into the world lost, and Ephesians 2:1-9 adds to that picture. There we learn that we come into the world dead in our sins and that it is only God's grace that saves us and makes us alive. It is true that hearing that we are lost without our own remedy or dead toward God surely is offensive to people. It might even be called a stumbling block; however, Jesus also spoke about that. He said that He is the stone that the builders rejected even though He is the Cornerstone, Matthew 21:42; 1 Peter 2:6-7; Acts 4:11-12. Imagine putting up a building and tossing away the cornerstone. Jesus is the One Who is not hesitant to speak truth to us. We are hopelessly lost, but we are sought by the Seeking Savior.

Lord, Thank You for finding me. Please continue to reach out and find those for whom we pray.