November 29

 “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD.” —JEREMIAH 29:13-14

Jesus often spoke about people as being lost. In Matthew 10:6, He told His disciples, “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” In Matthew 18, He gives the parable of the lost sheep. “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off” (vs. 12-13). 

Have you ever thought that it may be a wonderful thing to be described as being lost? It is a wonderful thing because to be lost means to be wanted. We do not lose an old coke can, for instance; we simply throw it away. But we do lose a watch or a wallet because, by definition, when we describe something as being lost, we are placing value on it. And when Jesus is seeking and saving that which is lost, the fact is those whom He is seeking are valuable – you are valuable. 

That is the starting point of God’s relationship with us; that we are of such value to God that He gave His only Son for us. An interesting observation can be made in John 1:43 where it says that Jesus left for Galilee. Finding Philip, He said, “Follow Me.” Then in verse 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” That raises the question: who is doing the finding? Did Philip find Jesus or did Jesus find Philip? The answer is they both found each other. There is a seeking Saviour who is looking for and finding sinners and there is a seeking sinner who is looking for and finds a Saviour. 

Both of these are talked about in Scripture. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus is the seeker. But He also said, “Seek and you will find…. for everyone who seeks finds” (Matthew 7:7-8). That means the only people who never find are those who never seek. The Lord Jesus Christ is seeking, but we do not sit back passively. There must be a reciprocation of that tug in our hearts, for it is the work of the Holy Spirit that draws us to Christ. He is the initiator and if we are seeking Him, then perhaps it is time to embark on the greatest relationship we will have in our lives and invite Him in.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I know that I am lost without You. You are what makes sense of this world and I thank You for seeking me. Amen. 

TO REFLECT UPON: Do I realize how valued I am by Jesus?