Day 85 - Lost
Scripture focus: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep." Luke 15:4-6 NIV
Most of us are familiar with the parable of the lost sheep. My question to you is this: do you understand what this story means? Here's what worries me. I'm afraid we hear this story, nod our heads and think: Sure, God loves us! Of course he rejoices when the lost are found. My greater fear is that we assume we're found, and it's all those helpless and hopeless victims "out there" who need finding. My greatest fear is that we secretly scorn the lost, assuming they did something wrong to end up on the wrong end of a shepherd's crook.
I so hope that we will see that, indeed, when we stumble into darkness - we are all lost. And our "credentials" don't change that reality. If we go to church on Sunday, and sprinkle in a few meetings in between, but we're still wandering around in the darkness - we're lost, folks. We may know the source of the light, but if we're not accessing its power - we're still lost.
There's a verse in scripture that I simply love to hate in the book of 2 Timothy (3:1-5). It goes like this: "People will be." and it lists a whole bunch of bad behaving and terrible thinking. This section concludes with: "having a form of godliness but denying its power."
Huh having a form of godliness - so we assume they know the source of the light, right? But denying its power still living in darkness. And it is this dark-dwelling that results in the symptoms of bad behaving and terrible thinking. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this, was it?
In tomorrow's devotional we're going to consider the concept of ambition. We're going to utilize the help of the writings of Erwin McManus to turn our thinking right side up. (When this happens, all sorts of better behaving and terrific thinking and blessed believing and hopeful healing becomes our "new normal." In other words, the lost get found and find themselves attending a big party - thrown in their honor.)
Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 2 and 3 in the morning; Luke 7 and Psalm 68 in the evening
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