Get Lost

By James Washington
Special to the NNPA from the Houston Forward Times

There are several universal principles in life that nobody can refute. The opposite of hot is cold. If you know good, you have to acknowledge evil. For every up, there is a down. As a matter of fact, the reality of opposites lets us know there should be expectancy in life that forces us to act a certain way. This affirmative action, of which I speak, allows you to understand and act accordingly, when you know you’re dealing with the truth as opposed to a lie. My example would be a child’s knowledge of Santa Claus. As the truth becomes known, instantly the child acts with the knowledge that he knows that he knows that he knows. The perspective I am trying to get you to see and react to here is the truth of lost and found.

I submit to you that the subject of this scenario is us, you and me. Are you lost? Are you found? And who determines which answer is correct? Biblically speaking, we lost it all in Eden and had it restored via the cross. In this instance, the it is us. Can you be found without first being lost? In my case, I know what lost is because once I found Christ, I found me. This may sound somewhat trite to you but finding myself in relationship with God was and is an eye opening experience, the likes of which I would wish on every one of you. You see, being lost in this world is being vulnerable to it. The world will see to it that you lose yourself to its entanglements, its temptations, its so called pleasures, known as whatever your weaknesses are i.e., greed, ambition, pride, sex, drugs and power. Pick your poison. But know that being lost allows your poison to pick you.

Now when you make an honest effort to find yourself spiritually, like the addict who must first admit his or her addiction, the effort is defined by an acknowledgment that you are indeed lost and in need of divine guidance to ultimately get this thing called life in order. In the Parable of the Lost Son that acknowledgement sounds like this. “…Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of you hired men.” Luke 15: 18-19. His truth he could not deny. He was lost. He had to become lost. He went looking for lost and found it. It enabled him to “find” himself and find his way home. And you know what he found? A waiting father, who had to explain it to his other son who never left, “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:32.

All I’m trying to say is when you finally get it, there’s only one place to go; home. And in this case home is where God is. The way was prepared by Christ who, like a homing beacon, shows us all how to find ourselves and thus be found. If you’ve ever been truly lost, you know the exhilaration you feel when you finally figure it out and get going in the right direction. My point is simple. As the kids say, you better recognize! Being lost is not the issue. Having enough sense to know it and do something about it is. I promise you the moment you begin to look for the Lord He will find you. It’s not like God lost you. It kind of gives new meaning to Lost & Found.

May God bless and keep you always.