Read: Luke 19
“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:10, NLT)
“Finding lost people”…those three words pretty well sum up Jesus’ purpose in life. That very phrase would have likely been his mission statement if statements had been around in Jesus’ day. Finding people who were spiritually lost was first and most the foundational conviction that led Jesus, the Son of God, Second Person of the Eternal Trinity, to leave his throne in glory, come to earth as a man, and die the horrific death of the cross.
Beyond the ability of human language to adequately describe it, lost people mattered to Jesus. And lost people mattered to his Father. John 3:16, the most compelling of all the verses of the Bible, reminds us of this driving conviction of God’s being: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Obviously, the truth of Luke 19:10 and John 3:16 is so vitally important because you and I are the eternal beneficiaries of Jesus’ passionate pursuit and God’s unstoppable love for lost people. But as indescribably wonderful as that is, there is more to it. You see, since lost people matter so dearly to Father and Son (and Spirit, too—see Luke 4:18), they ought to matter deeply to us as well. This is so fundamentally critical because knowing how the Godhead perceives people ought to make a difference in how you think of and respond to them.
In other words, as you go about your day today, you cannot look into the eyes of another human being without seeing a soul so loved by God that he willingly gave his only Son to die for their redemption. When the godless heathen sitting in the cubicle next to you or in the locker beside yours or in the unkempt house across the street from you is rubbing you the wrong way, just remember that they matter to God as much as you do! When you watch the evening news and see godless communists in China, or burka-clad woman in Teheran, or suicide bombers in Gaza, or people in weird get-ups marching in a gay pride parade, you are seeing the very kinds of people Jesus came to seek and save.
They matter to God. Jesus came to seek and save them just as much as he came to seek and save you. And since Father, Son and Holy Spirit see people that way, there ought to be a big difference in how you see them, too.
Just remember, the people who drive you crazy drove Jesus to the cross.
“Love means loving the unlovable—or it is no virtue at all.” ~G.K. Chesterton
What If God Took Over?
When God has truly taken over your life, you will begin to see lost people much differently, with much greater compassion and love. Ask the Lord to give you his eyes, that you may see all people as he sees them.
I work with special needs kids in the school system, I go to different places each day. Today I was at a school where I did a "one on one" with a young man, who is probably at a 3 or 4 year old level and I silently prayed over him and also had a chance on a walk to sing some Christian songs to him, the point is, I was thinking that how he mattered to the Father and I thought some day I will meet him whole in heaven and he will say "I remember you, you prayed over me"……it was a comfort to me to know that his wholeness is waiting for him…..Mary