Lost Property

Lost Property

How can it be that since I have found Him, that I feel so lost?

For I have come to seek and to save that which was lost.

I have been running in pursuit for so long, pushing with all my might. And now I reach out for Him like never before.

But He is always faster than me, always one step ahead, hard to catch, but not hard to catch up with.

He is right next to me, and it seems always one step away.

He draws me in, but then withdraws himself at the last moment.

I am over the withdrawal, the hide and seek, the seeking, the pursuit, the evade but never capture.

Could it be that He seeks me?

He longs for me to be caught. For He left behind the 99 to pursue the one that was lost.

Luke 15:4-6 What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness (desert) and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his [own] shoulders, rejoicing. And when he gets home, he summons together [his] friends and [his] neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep which was lost.

He leaves behind the majority to pursue the one. What the heck!

He leaves behind those who have no need of Him, and pursues the one in need. He goes after the one apart, the isolated, the one who leaves the pack. He pursues that which is apart. He rejoices over that which was found.

Perhaps now that I am lost, He will find me?

And yet, and yet, and YET, how can He lose me? For He is with me in the valley. He is with me in the possession of the land. He is my possession. He is within me. So how can I be lost.

I feel like I have been running through the jungle, sprinting as I used to do with my eyes closed. Feeling the rush of the wind on my face. There was a time decades ago where I loved to run. But now it is an effort to walk sometimes. But here I am running so fast, pushing with all my might, expecting to cross the finish line and attain the prize. But when I open my eyes, to expect the crowds, the applause, to my shock I find myself out in a wide open field, with no-one in sight.

My precious wonderful wife, observes my performance under pressure and says “I think this was your best yet!” And she does not give applause easily! And yet, and yet I find myself empty and without reward. A week of sprinting to the finish line, only to find the goal posts have been moved once again. This has been a regular pattern, but now I am literally spent, and lack the ability to obtain the prize. There is a gap that I cannot fill. There is a step that I cannot take.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

So here is the challenge. God speaks to me as one who is near. Right now He speaks. I believe that He exists, in fact it is obvious to me. I believe that He is a rewarder, for I have seen this to. My beloved wife is a continual undeserved reward to me, evidence of His great love to me! And yet I have seen ever diminishing rewards for my labour, my pursuit of His calling. In my youth, there was a time that whatever I touched turned to gold, but many, many, many times since then, the full benefits have not been realized for us or our clients. A taking away of the cream on top, a robbing of the ultimate prize, the ultimate joy.

In pursuing the single lost sheep, much joy was obtained. To me, family excepted, to possess the ordinary, to possess what the majority have means nothing, when a piece is missing. I see now why He leaves the mundane majority, which is of no consolation to pursue the missing one, the missing piece. For only when that which is missing is found can the fullness of joy be obtained.

I understand now, that He carries the Lost upon His shoulders, as the land He has given us to possess is inhabited by so many lost.

I believe that He prepares us for it (our purpose, our reward, our calling) concurrently with His preparation of it for us. I understand now that for us to lead the lost out of their wilderness we need to understand fully what it means to be lost ourselves.

Luke 17:33 Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and quicken it.

I started this post with the picture of Jesus standing at the Lost property counter, waiting for me to arrive, and behind Him is all my stuff, all the lost and broken pieces fully restored. For He owns all our property, He is our possession, and nothing He has for us has got away!

Reminds me of this story….

John 21:3-6 Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing! They said to him, And we are coming with you! So they went out and got into the boat, and throughout that night they caught nothing. Morning was already breaking when Jesus came to the beach and stood there. However, the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, Boys, you do not have any meat (fish), do you? [Have you caught anything to eat along with your bread?] They answered Him, No! And He said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find [some]. So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in for such a big catch (mass, quantity) of fish [was in it].

So this week, we cast the net one last time and look to the one who possesses all, to provide all that we need.