“That Which Is Lost”

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? —Luke 15:4

I recently lost my favorite Buck® pocket knife while on vacation. Losing it almost ruined my vacation. I owned it for about ten years or more. A pocket knife is like a good friend—Ready to help whenever needed. I carried it almost wherever I went. Me and that knife have been through a lot together. But, alas… it is lost. Only the Lord knows where it is… probably lost somewhere in the Glacier National Park. But God has taught be a few things through losing it— So it’s not a total loss.

FIRST, the Lord showed me the REMORSE of losing— The more you value an item, the more you will be upset by it’s loss. The more the item means to you, the more you will be grieved when it is lost. That is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem—They were lost like sheep without a shepherd. He puts a high value on a lost soul (Mk. 8:36). Consider what Jesus paid to redeem one lost soul.

SECOND, the Lord showed me the RIGOR of looking—The amount of effort you expend looking for a lost item will be in direct proportion to the value you put on it. The more valuable the item is, the harder you will look for it.

A teenager lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. Unable to find it, he told his mother the lens was no where to be found. Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes returned with the lens in her hand.

“How did you find it, Mom?” the teenager asked. “We weren’t looking for the same thing,” she replied. “You were looking for a small piece of plastic. I was looking for $100.”

How much effort are you putting forth to reach the lost? It depends on what you are looking for—A nondescript person, or a precious soul Jesus loves and died for.

THIRD, I considered the REJOICING for locating what was lost (Luke 15:5-7, 9-10, 23-24). Your rejoicing upon finding a lost item, will be proportionate to the value of the item. The more it is worth to you, the greater the joy you’ll have upon finding it! How much joy do you experience when you hear about a lost person being saved?

How much do lost souls, lost friends, lost co-workers, lost loved ones mean to you? They mean “the world” to Jesus! Someone has said, “He who has little love for the lost has little love for the Savior of the lost.”