With Jesus, we are never abandoned in the lost and found.
At the elementary school where I work, we have a Lost and Found. Amazingly, after being in school for only six weeks, it’s full already. There are some perfectly good jackets and sweaters and a table full of water bottles that have been lost so far. We even have the lense of someone’s glasses. How could that not be missed?
Every now and then, a child will come up to the office to ask if something has been turned in, but for the most part, the items remain unclaimed.
I am told, that the year will end and the lost and found will be full even though, several letters will have gone home reminding parents to come and check.
I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. My pastor reminded us in last week’s sermon, that we live in a throw away society.
If something breaks, we don’t try to fix it. We throw it away. If we lose something, we buy a new one. That’s a byproduct of living in abundance.
My pastor also reminded us that God’s Kingdom doesn’t work that way and that Jesus isn’t running a throw away society. In Luke 15:8, there’s a parable of a woman who has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she simply let it go? She has nine others. Nope, she searches high and low until she finds it and then she contacts all of her friends to let them know.
Jesus tried to explain the Kingdom of God to people in ways they could relate to. The people in Jesus’ time understood the message. The people in our country during the Great Depression, understood the message. Maybe living in our abundance has caused us to lose something in the translation.
As the pastor shared the parable of the coins, I thought about that lost and found at our school. I thought about how precious those jackets and sweaters would be to a child who didn’t have one. I thought about how precious a water bottle would be to a child in Africa, who has no vessel to transport water on a several mile walk from a well to his village.
The Bible tells us that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25
There have been countless words and essays written on that statement by people far smarter and more educated than I am. But, perhaps it simply means, when you have to rely on God for daily provision of your physical needs, your faith tends to be strong. You get to see God in action everyday.
The “rich man,” and let’s face it, that would include most Americans, have plenty of food to eat on a daily basis. So, in a sense, we are robbed of seeing His daily work.
But, Jesus provides us with an answer. When the disciples ask who can be saved. Jesus replies, “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27
Each and every one of us matter to God. We are never left abandoned in the lost and found. Jesus will come and claim us if we only ask. We are each a treasure to Him with far more worth than we may believe. We may have been abandoned by humanity, but we will never be abandoned by God.
A sermon and a lost and found rack reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂