Silence: Take a moment to get still and ask God to center your heart on him.

Scripture: ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Devotional: When I was little my mom used to tell me, “Scott, if you ever get lost just stay put and I will come find you.” In boys scouts when we would go camping our Troop leader would tell us the same thing. Why?

Well, if you start running around trying to find your way out, you make it harder for those searching to find you. You are far more likely to be found if you stay put in one spot.

This has probably happened to you with your friends. You tell them to stay at the specific location they are at, but inevitably they end up going to another spot and it takes even longer to track them down.

Religion and irreligion feel the same way to me. Religious mindsets says seek God through your good deeds and then you will find him. Irreligious, ignoring God, mindsets say pursue the things of this world and then you will find fulfillment. Neither is true.

Religious people work harder and never find God or fulfillment. Irreligious people keep pursuing worldly things believing that the next thing will satisfy them, but they too never find ultimate fulfillment.

The gospel is different.

At the heart of the gospel is a Savior that says, “stay put and I will come and find you. You don’t have to work harder, you don’t have to go looking for me in the things of this world, but simply stay put. I have come to seek and save that which was lost.”

You don’t have to work harder to find God, you simply have to stay put and have the faith that he will meet you where you are.

If you have been pursuing the things of the world but want to change, you don’t have to clean yourself up to seek God. Simply stay put, confess your need for him and he will meet you there.

Then, once you have been found, you have been given the same commandment. “Go! Seek and save those who are lost.” Tell a lost world they don’t have to seek God through their good works or seek fulfillment in the things of the world. Tell them to stay put. Tell them about this great Rescuer, this great Savior – Jesus, Seeker of the lost.

Question: Have you been seeking God through good works or fulfillment in things outside of him?

Action: Pray for someone in your life who is lost and ask for the courage to tell them about the one who can save them.

Prayer: God, without you we are lost and alone. Left to ourselves we will seek you in ways that simply get us more lost than we were before. You knew this about us so you sent your only son Jesus to seek and save the lost. Give me the wisdom to stay put to be found by you and then give me the courage to tell others about you.