This morning, I read Jesus' parable about the woman who had ten coins and lost one. She “lit a lamp, swept the house and sought diligently until she found it” (Luke 15:8). After she found it, “she called together her friends and neighbors, and said, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost!'” I thought about a time in my own life when I lost some money. It was only about $15, but I felt cheated! If I had never had that $15 in the first place, I wouldn't have minded so much. But the fact that I had had it, but now didn't have it anymore felt unfair and unjust! How much more sorrowful is God when he loses one of his beloved people!!! God started out already “having” humanity. He lovingly created and formed us, He breathed breath into our lungs and, when humanity began, our relationship was perfect! But the moment we decided not to trust God, that was the moment we became lost. God's original plan was to have every person in a peacful relationship with Him. He deserves this with each and every person on earth! It's only fair.
I started thinking about what it would look like in my own life to “seek diligently” for the lost and join God in His effort to bring back what once was His. Pictures of leading mass revivals and street preaching came to mind! While these are great things, not everyone has the gifts and talents to bring people to God in this way. I realized it's not about the way we bring people to Christ, but rather how faithful we are in obeying God's voice to do what He has called us to do, especially in the little things. Eveything we do should stem from a desire to make God the very fabric of life. The fabric of our own lives and in the lives of everyone around us. Our goal should be to bring God to the forefront of people's minds. Only when people start thinking about God can they learn more about him, experience him, and love him. The other day I was talking to a friend that recently moved. She was telling me how much she loved it and how many things she was worried about have worked out. But as I wanted to “bring God to the forefront of her mind,” I asked her what she had been learning about God through it all. She started telling me about how her family is unsupportive of her and she felt discouraged, hurt, and beaten-down. But one day, as she was driving, God spoke comfort and encouragement to her through a radio show at the exact moment that she needed it! I realized I might never have found out about her struggles nor shared in her joy if I had not asked her what she had been learning about God. This particular friend is a Christian, but the same goes for unbelievers. When I set out to “seek diligently” for the lost, I set out to get people thinking about God. I want them to see, hear and understand the ways that God is graciously providing for them, pursuing them in love and working on their behalf in the circumstances of their daily lives! That God is not just a being who made the world and left it to fend for itself, or an authority figure that is constantly watching us to see when we will mess up so he can punish us. He's up close and personal in love! Right in front of our faces and the life that he offers is incomparable to any other. God, give us your sorrow for your lost people!! Stir up our hearts, give us a passion, strength, and wisdom to go out and bring them back to you. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon all the lost and give them a deep desire, thirst, and love for you. Reveal to them the truth about who you are! May they know you are the only way and life without you is no life at all.