Read Luke 14-17
What is the one thing you always seem to lose? The remote control, car keys, cell phone, your kids? Think back to your most recent lost episode…what thoughts and emotions were going on inside you? For some reason, I lose my sunglasses more than anything else! And of course, I never realize I’ve lost them, until I really need them and once I realize they are lost, I get frustrated. Then I spend time looking for them, still not finding them, and get even more frustrated because not only can I not find my sunglasses, but now I’m late to my next appointment because I’ve been wasting time looking all over the house! I snap at my wife asking if she’s seen them and get mad at her for not knowing where I leave my stuff. The one thing that takes all that frustration away, is when I finally find them! My entire mood and attitude changes! I can relax and enjoy life. I become aware of how poorly O treated my spouse and the others around me.
How is it that the loss of something so trivial can have such a major impact on our thoughts, emotions and even actions? It’s not so much the object itself, but the importance that the lost item carries with us. In Luke 15, Jesus gives us three parables about things that have been lost. We might spend hours looking for lost sunglasses or a TV remote, but how much time do we spend going after a friend who is spiritually lost? So, we have to ask ourselves a difficult question, “How important are spiritually lost people to me?”
- Brian Haas is the High School Pastor at Adventure Church
