Encountering the Lost

“The Son of Man came to seek and the save what was lost.” Luke 19:10

Last Monday, our family went to Chuck-E-Cheese to fulfill a promise we made to our kids almost a month ago. As we were sitting at our seat, watching the kids play their tokens away, I overheard two women from the seat next to us. As they were watching a Menonite family enter the place, and as they entered, one woman asked the other.

“Say, do you go to church?”

“No,” replied the other. “Not since my wedding was in the catholic church and even then, I didn’t really want it there.”

Then that same woman sighed. “You know,” she said quietly to her friend. “I’m kinda lost.”

That brief conversation struck me...hard! Lost?? Did she really say she was lost?? I felt nervous to approach them, to ask them about what they had said. After all, what would I say, that I overheard them talking? I decided to let it pass, but quietly I said a prayer asking God to find whoever the woman was.

Afterward, it struck me again. Here I was sitting in Billings, without a care in the world, and the “lost” that Jesus speaks about was sitting right across from me. There was nothing to set her apart. She looked like every other person there. She had dressed nicely enough and seemed to have her life together. But deep down inside, she was lost!

So often we think that the mission field is someplace out there. Someplace foreign, remote, maybe even in a different country. We sit at home, stare at the television, and hope that the people overseas find God.

The reality though is that the lost are here! Right here under our noses! They are our neighbors living across the street and the person we say hello to as we get into our car in the morning. They are our in-laws and even our children. They are the postman, the waitress at the resterant, the check-out girl, and our co-worker. They can be literally anyone in the world. Anyone who has lost their way, who is spiritually adrift, who hasn’t the rock of Christ grounding them in their life.

But what do we do? So we know they’re out there. So what? Well...there are a few things we have been called to do.

First of all, we can pray. Pray for those who are lost. Pray for your neighbor that you never talk to across the street. Pray for the postman, the waitress, the check-out girl. Pray for your co-worker that he or she would find some direction in their life. Pray for the woman always complaining about her husband, that peace would be upon her. Pray for the unchurched, that they would find a good church-home for them. PRAY!!

Pray for them all. For workers who will speak to them, for friends that will lead them to Christ. Pray for the person who will tell them about Jesus Christ, for the person who will invite them to church. And pray for yourself, that God will give you the strength when the hope that is within you is questioned, to answer boldly and in love toward the neighbor.

We cannot say we don’t know the lost. We know them all too well. The question becomes: Do we care enough for them to lead them to Christ? Or will we leave them to wander about on their own? Amen.