Lost

Misplaced

Have you ever found yourself frantically searching for your keys or your wallet? You're late to work or to church and you just can’t find them. I’m sure that all of us have been in that situation before. In these cases we know that the item is simply misplaced and we must calm down and conduct a thorough search to retrieve our possession. But what happens when you have searched and yet you didn’t find it? 

In this case, at some point, we must face the reality that it is lost forever. We are not going to find it. Now, we must deal with replacing the lost item or for something irreplaceable or of sentimental value we must grieve our loss. In this case, we are thinking of loss in terms of something that we have failed to keep track of or adequately protect. Certainly this was accidental, but it is gone just the same and we must deal with the consequences.

Discarded

But there are also times when we lose things because we purposely let them go. I am speaking more philosophically at this point. We may come to realize that some dream or goal or relationship is simply not worth the effort and cost of us holding on to it. This should be especially true for us as Christians for we have found the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46). The gospel is the message of a treasure that is infinitely more valuable than anything we have or could ever even want. 

This treasure is Jesus! Because Jesus is God. He is of infinitely more value and importance than everything in creation because He is the creator and not simply a created thing (Colossians 1:15-18). Once we understand this truth, then it should be clear that nothing is valuable enough, important enough, good enough, or glorious enough to keep us from abandoning it for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:8). As the old song says, “nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling (Rock of Ages).”

Unsaved

But what if you are not the one who lost something, but rather the thing which is lost? In Luke 15, the Lord Jesus uses 3 parables about lost things to teach us to understand the heavenly joy produced by genuine repentance and conversion. 

In the first parable, Jesus tells us about a shepherd who leaves the flock of 99 sheep in safety and proceeds to search out and recover the one lost sheep followed by the great rejoicing because the lost sheep has been found (Luke 15:4-7). The second parable deals with a lost coin. Again the woman searches and finds the coin and calls her friends to rejoice with her that she has found her lost coin. In heaven there is great rejoicing over every one who is found (Luke 15:8-10). The final parable, while significantly more complex, is also about the great rejoicing in heaven when God’s people are found (Luke 15:11-32).

So, there are two ways that this could apply to you. First, if you are not an actual believer in Jesus Christ then you must understand that you are lost. You are far from God and you desperately need to be found, rescued and reconciled to God. And the message of these parables is that God and His hosts are ready to rejoice over your salvation. The Bible is clear that every person who turns from their sin trusting in Jesus' vicious death and victorious resurrection and calling on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:9-13).

The second application is for us who do believe. We need to rejoice at the conversion of lost souls and go out seeking to find more (Proverbs 11:30)!

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