For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10 ESV
I love this verse, which appears at the end of the story of Zaccheus. ” To the crowd, Zaccheus wasn’t worth the time of day, much less the presence of Jesus at His dinner table. They couldn’t understand why Jesus would defile himself by eating in the home of a tax collector. They, along with most of us, missed whole point of Jesus coming. He didn’t come to earth for nice wholesome acceptable folks. He came to seek people with problems, sins and failures. The wise men had come with gifts, looking for Jesus when He was born in Bethlehem. In an even greater way, Jesus came, with the gift of salvation, looking for us, and it cost Him His life to find us, so that we could find Him!”
Though I already had my songs picked out and a message prepared, just before heading to Life Care Center on Friday, I read my own daily devotional, based on a verse from Psalm 9. “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Psalm 9:10 NKJV
As I finished reading, those words stirred my heart, because they made me think of the many people that I visit who feel totally alone and abandoned. Quickly, I grabbed a pen and paper and the Lord helped me put together a short message of hope. My hope for you this weekend, is that no matter the circumstances which you face, that you may know that God will never abandon, never forget and never forsake, those who put their trust in Him. If we have put our trust in Jesus, then we belong to Him. Every fault, every failure, every regret and loss, He covers with His precious blood and gives us His grace, renewal and best of all, eternal life! If you have not yet begun that adventure of faith, it is never too late. Never! Never! Never!
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 ESV
Though we had traveled quite a bit around the United Staes to visit our families, my wife and I had never been overseas till were invited to visit friends in Switzerland. Naturally, we delightedly accepted and as the time grew closer, we anxiously awaited our passports to arrive in the mail. Then, after months of planning the day finally arrived and we headed off to the airport. Once in the air my wife was completely at peace and enjoying the flight, but the long hours over the ocean was a little intimidating for me, and it took more than a few quick prayers to calm my nerves. The ten days of our visit passed quickly, and when the day of our return came, we were sad to leave our friends, yet happy to be going home. After landing back in New York, of course had to pass through customs, and with our still shiny new passports gripped in our hands, we waited patiently in line. But as we stepped to the front and handed them to the officer, we were startled to hear him say, “There is a problem here.”
A bit sleepy from the long flight home, his words jolted me wide awake. “What problem?” I asked in confusion.
“These passport aren’t valid.” He replied, “You never signed them!”
“Oh no!” I exclaimed. “I am so sorry! We’ve never traveled out of the country before, and I had no idea!” I pleaded.
The gentleman gave me a smile of assurance then quietly said. “Well I’m not supposed to do this but just go to the back of the line and sign them. Then we’ll try again.”
Relief swept over us as we hurriedly made our way to the end of the line, found the page where our signatures needed to be and hurriedly signed. This time as we handed our passports to the officer he grinned, stamped them, and said, “Welcome home!”
Just like the wandering sheep in today’s verse we had a serious problem. We knew where we needed to be, we had no right to go there because we had never signed the documents. In the same way, God has provided eternal salvation to everyone who will put their faith in Jesus, but we have a part to play, by personally signing our name on the line. Our entrance is assured by grace, but each of us must personally receive it by faith. Only then will our entry be assured so that when we arrive at Heaven’s gate, we will hear the Father calling out, “Welcome Home!”
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