Lost and Found Department

I saw a heart wrenching sight a while ago. A child of about three years old was lost in a crowd of adults. The child's eyes were about on a level with many people's knees. He was in the last stages of heart-broken sobbing. It had passed the stage of screaming in fright, and bawling in terror, and was now reduced to that breath-catching sobbing we have all occasionally seen. The blotched and wet face was desperately scanning every face, hoping to see and recognize daddy.

And the horror of it was that no one was paying any attention to the poor lost little boy.

With one exception.

There was one teen aged girl who was concerned enough to go soothingly to the child, pick him up, hug him gently, and take him to the lost and found department. Finally a public announcement was made, and the little boy was re-united with his daddy. What joy at that reunion!

There are lots of lost little boys and girls out there. You can't hear them, but inside, they are screaming and crying for help. They may not express their fear and terror of life in a way most of us would recognize, but behind the brazen, or sullen, or even superior looks they give, they, in fact, are broken, and afraid. It's that `lost generation' of teen-agers I'm talking about. And it seems no one is paying them much attention.

With One exception.

Jesus' whole purpose in coming into humanity was for `the likes of them'. Look at Matt. 18:11:

"For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost."

And it's not as though that is an isolated statement of Jesus. The Apostle Luke includes it in his report, but with a further thought added. He says Jesus is actually out looking for the lost to save them. Read Luke 19:10:

"The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

And just in case you think the Apostle Mark didn't emphasize the same truth, read Mark. 2:17:

"Jesus ... said to them, `Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

There are hundreds of people who keep their eyes averted from a little lost soul, often because they themselves have nothing to offer. Most simply don't want to get involved. Meanwhile, the little souls go sobbing through life looking for hope in any face - hoping to go home to daddy.

But God anoints His people, His Church, just as He anointed Jesus to bring the lost back to Father. Read Isa. 61:1:

"The Spirit of the LORD God is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."

Oh, that God would open our spiritual eyes to see past the cocky, brazen and loud exteriors of this `lost generation', and help us to see the terror-stricken lost little souls crying out for help.

The Church is God's lost and found department. Let's do our job!