The Lord’s insight. Your belief is the signal that you know you are lost.
Luke 19:10: For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
We are not like a piece of paper. A 50-dollar bill blown around on the ground doesn’t know it is lost and it cannot find its way back to its owner on its own. But we know when we are lost because we can see where we are and we wonder about where we belong.
But like the 50-dollar bill, we cannot find our way to where we should be. Our owner must find us. And our owner is either the world or it is the Lord. The signals we send determine who will find us.
In Luke 19, Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, probably knew everyone who was someone. Perhaps in his role as a tax collector, he had heard many things about Jesus, but he didn’t know Jesus. So, he decided to try to see Him and to learn about Him. Zacchaeus’ curiosity about Jesus would be enough to for him to learn that he was lost.
Some of us spend a lifetime trying to learn who we are, trying to know who others are and trying to know where we belong. When we live like Zacchaeus did, we can never know these things because we are lost. We send signals to world, and the world cannot find us. It can only keep us.
We must learn to start living the way Zacchaeus did when he started seeking to learn about Jesus. He had lived on his own, and by his own ways, and towards his own desires but he had come to learn that he was lost. How he had lived is why he was lost. It’s that way for us.
But Zacchaeus changed; he stopped living the way of the world and wanted to live the way of God. We must change. If we want to be found, we must come to know we are lost:
- Jesus is looking for you to signal that you are lost. It is your realization that you are in the wrong place that lets Him know you are looking for Him? The Lord wants to change where you want to live long before He changes where you are living.
- Jesus wants to save you. Your belief in Him is your signal to Him that you want to be saved. Jesus wants to take what you want more than taking what you have. Give Him the things you want first.
- Jesus wants you to give Him what keeps you from knowing Him. Do you know what keeps you from knowing the Lord. The Lord speaks to what you are thinking before He responds to what you ask Him. Give Him your thoughts then you will know Him.
Like Zacchaeus, get yourself into a position to see the Lord. You cannot see the Lord when you live in the world. The world will give you things that make you important to the world. But seek the thing that He gives you that make you important to God. Stop looking for a place to visit and look for a place to stay.
Look at where you are and wonder about where you should be. Understand that all you have is little compared to all that you could have with the Lord. By your belief in the Lord, you position yourself to be found. Until you do that, the world will keep telling you that you are not lost so you do not need to be found.
Make sure you are always sending the Lord your belief in the Lord. It is your sure signal to Him that you know you are lost and are waiting for Him to find you. He will always find His way to you.
Live a Delivered Life.
