Are You Lost?

Daniel Boone once said, “I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks.”

There have been very few times when I have been lost. It could be that I do not place a high value on always knowing where I am. I may just know where I am, so am not usually lost. There are two times when I was lost that stick out in my memory.

We were on a family vacation in Chicago. Our time in Chicago was over and the objective was Milwaukee. Most of the time, I have a good sense of direction. I usually just know which way is north. This day, I was turned around trying to find the entrance to the freeway. When I made what I thought was the correct turn, we started to head south. Just in case you do not know your geography, Milwaukee is north of Chicago. I was lost and deep down I knew was lost. I understood my problem when I noticed the highway sign saying we were heading south.

Another time I traveled to Boston and stayed in a city northwest of the city. After I had checked into the hotel, I drove around looking for a place to eat. Of course, the restaurant next to the hotel is never good enough, so I set out. I drove for around an hour, not seeing much but dark countryside. I did not know where I was going, so I did not consider myself lost. I found out that I was lost when I saw the sign welcoming me to Massachusetts. I had been in another state and did not know it!

The fact may be that you are lost, but do you know that you are lost? The problem with not knowing you are lost, you do not know about your problem. If you do not know about your problem, you will not work on finding a solution. If you do not know you are lost, when someone recognizes that you are lost and offers help, you will reject their help. After all, you are not lost.

I turn from geography to theology. If you are doing life on your own, apart from God, the bible says you are lost. You are without God. You are doing things on your own with no help. Since God created all things, including you, He knows how you should live. If you ignore the guidance of God in life, you are certain to lose your way.

There is a solution. This solution does not come from man, but it comes from God. When we live life as we want to, apart from God, we have placed ourselves in the place of God in our life. The bible calls this sin. This sin separates us from God and we are lost. Our sin not only separates us from God, but it causes God’s justice to condemn us. We have a penalty to pay to God for our sin and there is no way for us to make adequate payment.

We find the solution only in the person of Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life. He paid the penalty for our sin. Jesus offers us the gift of the payment of our penalty, allowing us to be set right with God. The only thing we can do is to accept this gift. Have you done this? If not, why not right now?