Luke 15:4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” NIV

Twenty people in our little town were searching. Two hours had passed. The bush was thick. The paths were many. The chill of night crept closer. Would the elderly gentleman, who had wandered away from his home, be found in time?

Fortunately the answer was yes.

“Now brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-3 NIV

Jesus is coming again, fact or fiction? For many this biblical fact has become a myth, no longer believable. But what do you say? If the answer is fact then are you searching? Am I searching? Are we searching for the lost? Are we praying for the wanderers with diligence? Are we putting ourselves on the line, taking the chance to share the love of Christ and his promise of return even though we may end up being alienated, humiliated, ridiculed, appearing foolish, ignorant, irrelevant or pushy? If so then we are in good company!

“Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. Hail, king of the Jews! They said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off his robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they lead him away to crucify him.” Matthew 27:27- 31 NIV

The chill of eternal night is creeping ever closer for the lost and wandering, though many who consider themselves wise are saying peace and safety, it’s only a myth. Let us therefore, as servants of the living Lord, believers of truth, be diligent searchers. Let us be willing to humble ourselves, putting it all on the line for Christ, just as He did for us, that eternal night may be transformed into eternal light and life, that the lost may indeed be found.

Prayer: Father God thank you for Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross for us! In Christ’s wonderful name we pray. Amen.

Lynne Phipps
Atlin, B.C.