We use the word “lost” very loosely. “I’ve lost my keys!” “Who is that loser?” “My meaning was lost in translation.” We mean something is misplaced. Someone is outside our circle or clueless. Something just ain’t right. It’s not in its place.
LOST, the TV series, focuses on a group of people thrown together by a tragic crash and trying to cope with their situation and each other. This is the proverbial “men on a life raft” situation; only there is no good solution—only more questions.
Do we realize that every day, every man, woman and child lives in a situation and is trying to cope with it? The situation, the condition, is called being lost. They are misplaced. They have wandered away from the Great Shepherd. They are outside the boundaries of God’s plan for their lives. They do try to cope in the land of the lost. Enjoying material possessions, family, pets, extreme sports, hobbies, even religion does not assuage the guilt of sin and rebellion against a loving and holy God. Their situation is hopeless. Unlike the LOST cast, who head for their air-conditioned, rented condos in Hawaii when the day’s filming is done, lost people wake up everyday to the same emptiness gnawing at their soul. It may glitter on the outside but it is not pretty on the inside.
Whether you look into the eyes of an earthquake victim or into the eyes of a smug Hollywood starlet, you see the same emptiness; the same lack of hope–the lostness. We think we can handle this; we can cope successfully with our lostness. We can help the earthquake victim. We can keep our reputations clean. We can do whatever is required by a god we have hitched our hopes to. It will be OK; only it won’t be. There is no earthly rescue on the way.
But “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2). Jesus said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness.” A shaft of divine light has pierced the darkness of humanity’s hopeless, lost condition. The hopeless have hope; the lost can indeed be found. Those outside are invited inside. The misfits can fit. By God’s grace, we can all be made right through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Light.
Do you carry the light to those around you? What about to those who are as far away from you as it is possible to get–right over there on the edge of the map? Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary is training warriors who will lead the way to islands of lostness; who will “preach the gospel to the poor; heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:1-2). Every human being living outside of Christ is lost and it is dark out there. Let’s go find them and bring them home.
