GOSPEL TRUTH: Lost!
It can be frightening or frustrating…..
Depending on where you are in life, to be lost can be either frightening or frustrating.
For a child, being lost can be a frightening experience. Perhaps you can recall a scene from your own childhood. You were in a busy shop one day, when the adult who was with you disappeared from sight for just a moment. It was when you happened to be looking the other way. Although it was only momentary, terror gripped your heart, and tears soon filled your eyes. You wondered whether you had been abandoned for ever!
As an adult the experience can be very different. Picture yourself on holiday – driving through an unfamiliar city in another country and getting confused by a complicated one-way system, or losing your sense of direction because there were not enough road signs. At the very least it can be frustrating and inconvenient finding that you are lost, but under some circumstances it can for a time be a terrifying ordeal.
Many people seem to be lost in life. They feel they lack direction and purpose and wonder why they’re here. Life can be very confusing and perplexing. Is there any meaning to our existence?
Actually, God says that we are all lost! The Bible declares: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.” (1) We have chosen our own way rather than the right way God intended for us, and we are lost from God because of sin. The sinful nature that we were born with causes us to commit sin and do things that God says are wrong. Because He is holy, we have become separated from Him, and in this sense we are lost.
THE GREATEST NEED
Imagine you are utterly lost, and you tell someone of your predicament. If the person kindly says, “I can help,” it is a tremendous relief. The local person who comes to our rescue in a foreign town is just the one we need, for if he has lived there all his life he will know the streets better than anyone else. Knowing that we could never find our own way back to God, the Lord Jesus Christ (God’s Son) came from Heaven “to seek and to save that which was lost.” (2) His great love brought Him into this sinful world and eventually led Him on to face a cruel cross where, as the Good Shepherd, He laid down His life for us. (3)
Being lost from God, we need help in order to find Him. Like the local resident in the foreign town, the Lord Jesus is the best Person to consult. He knows all about Heaven because it is His eternal home! He knows how we can reach God too. “I am the Way,” He said. “No man cometh to the Father but by Me.” (4) What does this mean? These words tell us that there is only one way to approach God – and no other way. It is only through Jesus Christ who died for our sins that we can ever come back to God.
FINDING THE WAY
When help is available, you don’t need to remain lost! Although you may not be aware of it, the Lord Jesus is seeking you today. “Return to Me,” is the personal appeal God is making to you through His Son.(5) If you ignore His loving invitation, you may remain lost from God for ever.
The way back to God is simple. We must confess our sins to Him, admitting that we are lost. Each person who is aware of being lost must say honestly, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” (6) We must believe that Jesus bore the penalty for our sins at the cross (7) and ask Him to be our Saviour and Lord. If you do this, He will give new meaning to your life. You need not remain lost for another moment!
END NOTES:- (1)Isa.53:6. (2)Lk.19:10. (3)Jn.10:11. (4)Jn.14:6. (5)Zech.1:3. (6)Psa.119:176. (7)Isa.53:6.