Where To Look When I Am Lost?

Jesus was often challenged by people who thought they were the wise and learned folks – especially those who saw themselves as guardians of God’s law.  They thought they knew what the right way was to look at things and the right practices to have in their daily living.  When what Jesus did and taught differed from their way of thinking, they complained and looked for ways to silence Jesus. Here’s one example

Many tax collectors and sinners came to listen to Jesus.  Then the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to complain, “Look, this man welcomes sinners and even eats with them!” 

Luke 15:1-2

Jesus told them a story to try to help them understand. 

Jesus said that if a man owned a hundred sheep and one of them wandered from the flock, the owner would leave the ninety-nine in the field and go and search for the one sheep that was lost.  When the sheep was found the man would rejoice with his friends and neighbours. 

Then Jesus made a connection between the sheep and people - whether they were clearly broken-down sinners or people like those upstanding leaders who were complaining because they disagreed with Jesus  and sinning in their self-righteous ways. 

In the same way, I tell you, heaven is a happy place when one sinner decides to change.  There is more joy for that one sinner than for 99 good people who don’t need to change. 

Luke 15:7

Jesus is the only one who perfectly lived the Father’s will every day of His life.  Jesus tells us that not only do we all need to admit our own failures and seek forgiveness, but if we will, He will forgive us and we will bring great joy in heaven when we acknowledge this truth and act on it.

Loving God, we all have wandered away from Your plan and like the lost sheep, we can’t find the right way without You.  Whether we make choices that damage our reputation and bring us great harm and shame, or whether we hide our self-will  behind a self-righteous “do gooder” persona, we admit today that we don’t always get it right. 

We need forgiving.  We need the rescue only You can give us as we trust what You did for us by dying on the cross and taking the punishment for our sins. 

Once again today, we turn to You, and trust Your forgiveness to make us right with our Heavenly Father, and to give us strength to stay close and follow You in all our ways.  Amen

So, in what ways are we lost today?  What’s going on in our thoughts or our actions from which we need Jesus to come and rescue us and put us back on the right path.  Let’s do ourselves a favor and give Him that opportunity today.