“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

Hi, everyone. Happy Friday. I was recalling a time when I was standing in a souvenir shop with several other folks when all of a sudden our phones went off and it was really loud and everybody grabbed their phones trying to shut it off. And then we began to get very quiet as we realized it was an Amber Alert.

Those alerts that get sent out when a child goes missing, and there’s an all-out call for everyone to be on the lookout for this missing lost child. I began to really kind of put myself in that parent’s position, who may be the one who is missing that child, and my heart began to break. But then I thought, how much more must God’s heart break over the children that He has that He’s still missing, that are lost, that are wandering?

He has His eyes on them, but He desperately wants them to come home and to be under His care and with His love. And He’s really called us to be a part of this search that started when He sent his Son Jesus to seek and to save those who are lost. That’s what Luke 19:10 says. And we, too, are a part of that mission.

I wonder if this weekend if we might open our eyes and maybe in a sense hear that alert that God sends out, to be aware of those around us who may be missing and to be able to be a part of the search and rescue team of God, to express His love, His redemption, and His invitation back under His tender care.

I pray that you’ll open your eyes and you’ll look around and see and notice who’s near, who’s passing, who you engage with this weekend. Perhaps, maybe their name is on that God alert of a child who’s missing that God desperately wants to reach. May God do that with all of us this weekend, in fact, let’s pray for that right now.

Prayer
Dear Lord, thank You very much for the fact that You went out in an all-out search for us when we were lost. And we’ve been found by Your salvation, by Your love, by the gift of Your son, Jesus. And now we know that this work, this work that continues, is a part of the calling that You give to us as Your children to go and to continue to look for those who also may be lost. Those You are seeking.

Would you open our eyes and our hearts as we go through this weekend to recognize those around us? And Lord, open those opportunities for us to reach those that You are seeking, those who You are calling back to Yourself. We give You thanks for this weekend and the opportunity to be a part of the journey of following You. And it is with that gratitude and grateful heart that we thank You now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.