Lucado shares the true account of a woman's search for her lost brother. The story becomes an allegory of our salvation. The woman is a Christlike figure, searching out the lost man who has wandered far from home and come near the point of death. The lost brother represents you and me, failing to recognize our Savior's love and pushing it away with our calloused doubts.
In an analogy, all the characters count. I was taken with the brief appearance of the lawyer. He was called on to represent the indigent brother, and went above and beyond courtroom work to seek out the sister. This lawyer's efforts were an important part of the eventual recognition and reunion of the separated siblings.
Can we be like the lawyer? Do we seek Christ, in prayer, on behalf of those who do not know him?
Liberal theology downplays the idea of "lost" people. Heaven is seen as an entitlement. The church exists merely to give money and volunteers to earth-bound causes.
But this is very far from the message of Jesus, who preached an array of sayings and stories about finding the lost. Our work in his service is to find the lost and work to reunite them with him.
This means opening our eyes to see lost peoples' need for God. It means opening our hearts to care about their destiny. It means opening our mouths to intercede for them and, guided by God, to speak the Good News to them. It means convincing our busy, turned-in congregations that Jesus wants them to find the lost.
It will mean enduring rejection when our appeal bounces off of peoples' doubts.
But it will mean sharing the heavenly party when even one lost person is reunited with Christ.
1 comment:
Whew! Irene and I spent a marathon afternoon catching up with Max.
As Northern Plains so eloquently stated, “This means opening our eyes to see lost peoples' need for God. It means opening our hearts to care about their destiny. It means opening our mouths to intercede for them and, guided by God, to speak the Good News to them. It means convincing our busy, inward-looking congregations that Jesus wants them to find the lost".
We as God’s children need to strive to be more Christ-like in our approach to others, caring for the discouraged, the lost, and the frightened. The harder we strive, the more successful we become at leading the needful to the arms of the Good Shepherd.
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