Imagine a child outside, innocently hunting for butterflies. Her parents told her to stay inside the fence, but she can’t help but step outside her boundary as a beautiful swallowtail lands on a purple coneflower on the other side. As her net gets close, the butterfly flutters to a different flower, and she wanders a little farther away. She excitedly chases after the beautiful winged insect, and soon she finds herself deep into the woods. She’d been having so much fun that she hadn’t even realized how far she had strayed. When the butterfly disappears, she realizes she is lost.
Her parents become frantic when they can’t find her. Caring people help spread the word and join in the search, hoping to find her alive. They understand how dangerous this situation is. She is without food and water. Darkness will fall soon. She could fall into a hole or drown in a pond. She could encounter wild animals or strangers seeking their prey.
The search will continue until the child is found. Most of the people assisting do not know the family. They don’t care about the family’s race, social status or lifestyle. There is a child who is lost and in danger, and they recognize the urgency. They will mourn along with the family if she is found dead, but they will rejoice with them if she if found alive and reunited with her parents.
There will be no scolding or punishment when they find her because she will now understand why her parents set up the boundaries. She will have regret for her disobedience and will not wander outside those boundaries again.
What if we searched for the spiritually lost as earnestly as we search for the physically lost? Do we understand the danger that many lives are in?
God created us to be more than just a physical body that turns to dust when we die. He created us in His image with a soul that lives on after the physical body dies. Our soul is in great danger when we wander outside of his boundaries, chasing our own desires and choosing to follow our ways instead of his. If we wander too far, we risk being lost and separated from God, our Heavenly Father, forever.
Eternal separation from God in heaven means eternal torment in hell. This is not what God wants for anyone. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “…he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
God sent his Son, Jesus, to die in our place. He took the punishment for all of our sin and all of our wandering outside of God’s boundaries. “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Sadly, some people do not even realize that they are lost or that there is more to life than their physical body. The Good Shepherd is seeking those who are lost and has commissioned his followers to do the same. So, I ask myself, and I ask those who understand this danger, “Do we understand the urgency in searching for the lost and bringing them to the Good Shepherd?”
A person’s race, social status and lifestyle does not matter in our search. God loves everyone and wants “everyone to come to repentance.”
Jesus tells a story to illustrate the importance of each individual’s well-being in Luke 15:4-7. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he 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.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
We must remember why Jesus came. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
We must heed the words that Jesus shares with his disciples in Matthew 9:36-38. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” We must pray and be willing to go.
As believers and followers of Christ, we must also take seriously our calling. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).
How will you respond to the urgency in seeking the lost? Are you willing to search for those who need to hear the message of the Gospel? Go share the good news before it is too late!
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” (Romans 10:13-15)