Stanley Jones told the story of a missionary who got lost in an African jungle. He found nothing around him but brush and a few clearings. He found a native hut and asked the native if he could get him out. The native replied that he could. “All right,” said the missionary, “show me the way.” The native said, “Walk,” so they walked and hacked their way through unmarked jungle for more than an hour. The missionary got worried. “Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?” The native replied, “Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path.”
When Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for His disciples, they got confused. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). When we feel like we don’t know where we’re going, we’ve got to trust Jesus to lead the way. Where else will we turn?
Tags: direction, lost
A boy once worked hard to make a small wooden sailboat. He looked at his finished product and said, “It’s mine, I made it.” Then he took it to a nearby lake, attached a sting to the boat, and launched into the water. Wind kicked up some waves and, unexpectedly, the string came untied from the boat. Sadly the boat wandered further and further away until the boy made his way home – without his prized possession. It was lost.
Months later, the boy was walking past a garage sale and spied a familiar boat on a table. He examined it closely and it indeed was his lost boat. He went to the homeowner and said it really belonged to him. “I’m sorry,” the homeowner replied, “but it’s my boat now. If you want it, you’ll have to pay the price for it.”
Sad at heart, the boy was determined to get his boat back, even though it meant working and saving until he had enough money to pay for it. At last the day came. Clutching his money in his fist, he walked up to the house and handed his hard-earned money in the owner’s hand. “I’ve come back to buy my boat,” the boy said. The owner then placed the boat in the boy’s hands.
“You’re mine,” he said, “twice mine. Mine because I made you, and now, mine because I bought you.” Not only did God make you, but in Christ He paid the price to buy you back. Why? Because God believes you are worth loving.
Tags: lost, redemption, rescue
A dignified lady who possessed a valuable diamond ring was once walking along the street in Paris, France. In pulling off her glove she dislodged her ring, which rolled along the ground and dropped through a grating into a drain. Greatly distressed, she peered down into the catch basin, which was full of black, watery mud. She tried to retrieve her treasure with the end of her umbrella, but her efforts simply pushed the ring deeper. In desperation, she finally rolled up her sleeve, plunged her arm deep in the black muck, and in a few seconds retrieved her ring.
Isn’t that a great illustration of God’s reaching down into our sinful lives to save our souls? He plunged Himself into the world of sin around us, took us out of the horrible pit of sin, positioned us in Christ, and set us among the princes in glory. As Jim Otis says, He saved us from the guttermost to the uttermost.
Tags: grace, lost, redemption
While Chicago evangelist D. L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism, he did more than just talk about it. He asked a friend, who was a gifted musician, to meet him on a street corner at 6:00 one evening. The man stood on a box and sang a song. When a crowd gathered, Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall.
Soon the auditorium was filled with spiritually hungry people, and he preached to them. When the convention attendees began to arrive, Moody stopped preaching and said, “Now we must close, as the brethren of the convention want to discuss the topic, ‘How to Reach the Masses.'”
Jesus sent his disciples out to preach the good news, not just talk about it among themselves. The Great Commission begins with the word, “Go!”
Select a person in your life who needs to hear about Jesus and go to them. Jesus is counting on you.
Tags: evangelism, lost, Moody
Today I was called out of the office to visit my Dad. It really wasn’t urgent, but he thought it was. On my way back through Butler, there was a fire in a house on Main Street that had US 6 shut down completely. Being raised in Butler, I knew my way around so I turned onto a side street to by-pass the blocked road.
Semi-trailers from both directions were traveling up and down those back streets, trying to find a detour around, but not knowing where they were going. It took a long time waiting for the semis to pass on those narrow back streets.
And I was reminded of how confusing it was before I came to Christ. I was lost in a lost world and didn’t know what turns to take. There were obstacles at every turn and no one to show me the way. Then I came to Christ, and learned that “narrow is the gate, and hard is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). God, help us to know where we’re going in life.
Tags: lost