It is every parent’s worst nightmare, when a highly anticipated Christmas shopping trip with grandparents in tow takes a dramatic turn for the worst as they suddenly realised that their five-year old, is nowhere to be found. This very thing happened to one of my friends. With fears of kidnapping racing through their minds, they split up to search for their precious little Joe. My friends assignment was the car park. In the grip of anxiety he made his way through the fresh fallen snow yelling, “Joe, Joe!” I have to tell you that he felt a little foolish. But being embarrassed by shouting out in a car park was overshadowed by fears for his son and his need to find him.
But, after covering the extensive area of the car park, there was no sign of Joe. More concerned than ever, he went back into the shopping precinct to see if anyone else had spotted him. He was hoping beyond hope that either his wife or his mother had found him, but their search had turned up empty as well. Their sense of desperation was hitting new levels when his dad walked around the corner with Joe in hand. Overwhelmed with relief, they asked, “Dad, where did you find him?” "At the sweet counter,” he replied. “Little Joe had his hands behind his back and his eyes were right up at the level of the sweet shelves.” He didn’t even realize that he was lost! Nor did he have a clue about the kind of danger he was in.
As I reflect on my friend's experience I think that Joe reminds me of a lot of people who are without Christ as their Saviour. Lost in the sweet world of their lives, they have no idea of how lost they are or of the eternal danger they are in.
In the Bible story we find that, Zacchaeus,, the tax collector, had immersed himself in the pursuit of possessions, prosperity, and power. By the world’s standards he was doing okay. Yes, he wasn’t terribly well liked, but he had a sense of purpose, was achieving his goals, and thought he had life pretty well figured out. But, entranced by the “sweets” of his own gain, he was actually "lost".
Jesus searched him out! Going out of the way to call him down from his perch in a sycamore tree, Jesus invaded his life, invited Himself over for dinner, and rescued Zacchaeus from the danger of his self-indulgent, selfish, sinful life. When the Pharisees grumbled about Jesus spending time with a tax-collector, Jesus reminded them that His purpose on earth was “to seek and to save those who were lost.”
That’s where you and I are before Christ finds us and rescues us. Our preoccupation with the stuff of this world—money, power, pleasure, comfort, and ease—numbs us to the very real dangers of life without Christ. Without Him we are dangerously lost—and don’t even know it.
Thankfully, a gracious, compassionate God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pursue us, find us, and rescue us. So, have you recognised your need for Christ and acknowledged that you are lost without Him, or do you find that you are still preoccupied with other things? Why not take a few minutes today to praise and thank God for coming to rescue you in the person of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Key Verses
John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
1 John 4:7-14
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (16/12/25)
Written by PETER FRANCIS
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