Lost and Found

Posted On April 24, 2022

“Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”

Luke 15:6 NLT

The other day, I was has having a hard time working the clasp of the cross necklace I usually wear. I couldn’t seem to get everything lined up, so I slid the clasp around to the front of my neck and leaned in close to the mirror above my bathroom sink. At one point, one end of the chain slipped out of my hand. I was so focused on getting everything lined back up that I almost didn’t notice the cross had slid off and nearly went down the drain. My first instinct was to finish my immediate task of clasping the chain around my neck and then focus on retrieving my cross from the sink. But it only took a second to realize how silly that would be! Without my cross on the necklace, what was the point of wearing it?

This made me think about how many other times in my life I get so focused on the details that I miss the big picture and nearly lose the cross. Without the cross — without my faith in Christ and my daily walk with Him — everything else I am trying to accomplish is pointless. Maybe you can relate. Life is full of daily chores and mundane activities that require our attention. We have obligations to fulfill, tasks to complete, and things (and people) to take care of. But if we’re not careful, these things become all we think about. We focus on the details of living and forget the big picture of what life is all about. When our first instinct is to finish everything else we have to do and then focus on Christ, we are in danger of losing our perspective. So this week I thought we’d take some time to fix our eyes on the cross.

We Once Were Lost…

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Luke 19:10 NLT

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. That’s all of us: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, . . . ” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV). To truly appreciate the cross, we need to remember where we were without it. Before Christ, humanity was doomed to death and sin, and we were helpless to save ourselves. Removing guilt and coming before God required costly sacrifices — blood had to be shed to atone for us — but it was only a temporary fix. Then Christ came down and paid that price once and for all. He saved us.

As Christians, we’ve heard the story many times. We celebrate it every Easter. But do we ever stop and really let it sink in? Sometimes it all feels so far away and long ago that we don’t know how to make it personal. We don’t know how to let the Gospel story affect our day-to-day living. We go to church on Sunday and then we get back to “real life” the rest of the week. Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. Raised in the church, there was never a time I didn’t know the story of the cross. But I didn’t know how to let it transform me. As is often the case, I finally had to be shaken up a little before I really learned who Jesus is and what He’s about.

“The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, ‘This man truly was the Son of God!'”

Matthew 27:54 NLT

For the Roman officer and the other soldiers at Christ’s crucifixion, I’m sure the day started out as any other. Brutal as it was, this was their job. As they went about completing their assigned duties, they probably weren’t too focused on Jesus. It wasn’t until the sky went dark, the dead rose from the grave, and the ground shook that they realized who Christ was. And it terrified them! When life’s going along just fine, it’s easy to get caught up in the details of our jobs, our families, our hobbies, and even our church activities without really thinking about the cross. We don’t pay attention to the big picture of what God is doing. Sometimes He has to shake things up to get our attention, and this can be scary. But that may be what it takes for us to learn who Jesus really is.

“And then the earth moved. It was not in the three hours of darkness over the earth, but in the shaking, that the centurion knew Jesus’ true identity.”

Faith Blatchford, God of Wonders

When our world shakes all around us, we often lose whatever it was we were holding on to for security. Even though this can be frightening, I’ve learned that when God wants us to let go of something, it’s usually so He can give us something even better. Those Roman soldiers were terrified. They lost their sense of control and lost their faith in their own power. But they gained something much better: faith in Christ.

…But Now We’re Found

“When God is our Holy Father, sovereignty, holiness, omniscience . . . do not terrify us; they leave us full of awe and gratitude.”

Ravi Zacharias

Although I have had faith in Christ for as long as I can remember, I had to be shaken up before I learned how to turn over every aspect of my life to Him. Maybe you are like me — you didn’t figure out how to let Christ transform your life until you were completely desperate. Or maybe you learned this lesson from day one, and your relationship with Christ has been growing closer ever since. Or maybe you haven’t figured it out yet. If not, I pray you do so now. Don’t put it off:

“And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done.”

Colossians 2:6-7 TLB

These aren’t just pretty words. These verses are explaining that Christ not only saves our eternal souls, He helps us with our everyday problems and He fills our lives with joy. Christ came to seek and save the lost. When we turn our lives over to Him, we let Him find us. And then we find more than we ever dreamed possible: freedom from sin, eternal life, unending love, amazing grace, eternal life, hope, peace, joy, . . . and faith. And not just in some abstract, salvation-for-humankind sort of way, but in a way that’s real and personal!

When we let Christ invade our hearts, fill our minds, and shake up our lives, He can begin to transform us in wonderful and surprising ways. But, in my experience, this is also when we become a target for the enemy. Have you ever reached a spiritual high only to be derailed the very next day? I have. More than once. And I’m not the only one. I don’t believe this is coincidence. The enemy would like nothing more than to make us give up. He can’t defeat us, but he can render us useless if we let him. That’s why it’s so important to nourish our faith and hold on to the cross.

“Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. . . . Consequently one must train the habit of Faith. The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

When we feed our faith every day, we help it to become the driving force in our lives. Soon we begin to view everything in light of eternity. Every experience we have becomes an opportunity to worship and glorify God. Everything we say and do can be used to share Christ’s love and draw others to Him. The details of our everyday lives become filled with a new, larger purpose. We find abundant life, not just in Heaven, but here and now on earth. When we focus on the cross, we see everything more clearly.

“Life on Earth is a dot, a brief window of opportunity; life in Heaven (and ultimately on the New Earth) is a line going out from that dot for eternity. If we’re smart, we’ll live not for the dot but for the line. When we view our short today in light of eternity’s long tomorrow (to use A. W. Tozer’s expression), even the little choices we make become tremendously important. . . . when we live with eternity in view, we’ll do everything with a transformed perspective, not only preaching and witnessing but also washing dishes and mowing lawns. Almost any honest activity can be an eternal contribution, an investment in God’s eternal plan.”

Randy Alcorn, Seeing the Unseen

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that when Christ finds us, we find Him . . . and so much more. Let’s hold on tight and let our lives tell the story of what He’s done for us. And let’s keep our eyes fixed on the cross so that we never lose our eternal perspective. As followers of Christ, we’ve lost the chains that once bound us to sin and death. And we’ve found freedom and eternal life. That grace is pretty amazing!

“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

John 9:25 NIV

References:

• Alcorn, Randy. Seeing the Unseen, Expanded Edition: A 90-Day Devotional to Set Your Mind on Eternity. Multnomah, 2017.
• Blatchford, Faith. God of Wonders: 40 Days of Awe in the Presence of God. Chosen Books, 2021.
• Lewis, C. S. “Mere Christianity.” The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics, Harper San Francisco, 2002, pp. 1-177.
• “Pentatonix – Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Pentatonix, https://youtu.be/Obp-9BEZe1c.

Images:

• Cross Pendant featured image by Maurício Eugênio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-cross-pendant-2752461/
• Cross Necklace image by me
• Wooden Cross image by Vicki Hamilton from Pixabay
• Hands Holding Cross image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
• Cross Drawing image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
• Cross on Hill image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay