the lost

I had the privilege of listen to writer Christine Caine speak at a conference a couple of years ago. if you've never heard of her, look her up! she is an amazing woman who loves the Lord and is doing so much good in this world. 

she talked about the lost. I'm not going to account this near as the eloquently as she said it but try to bear with me. as "Christians" we often hear about "reaching the lost". I think most people who claim to be Christian would also claim that they want to reach the lost. but let's think about how we're doing that. she talked about mailing a letter to her mother, who lives in a different country. if she sent the letter from Australia, to her mother in Greece and the letter did not get there, would you call her mother lost? no. that would be ridiculous. the letter is lost. but her mother is not.

who do you think of when you think of "the lost"? there's obviously the people in far off countries without clean water or education or shoes. you probably think about the people in your own city or state that live in "those parts of town" and make those kinds of choices that separate "them" from "us". but they aren't really lost are they? they know exactly where they are. as do we. it's the letter that's lost.

so let's ask ourselves for a minute, what is the letter we're sending? what do those outside of our belief see? what message will get to them? are the "black lives" or "our children" seeing your hashtags? do the children who auditioned for and the ones casted for a movie that is offensive care if you cancel your streaming subscription?

 

what about with the woman who is pregnant and doesn't want to be? does she know that you care about her unborn child based on your vote on a ballot. does she know that you care about her? you say you are pro life. do you value her life? what if she is an illegal immigrant? what if she is black? or a Democrat? or made choices you don't agree with to get to the place she is in. is she lost? or is the message God sent to her completely lost?

I'm not writing any of this to make anybody angry. though I'm sure it will. if you're reading this and you're upset and you love the Lord I'm asking you to stop for a minute. 

stop.

who in the paragraph that I listed above does the Lord love? I'm not asking if he agrees with their decisions or if they're living according to "His law". I'm asking if He loves them?

He most certainly does. and I think the majority of these people don't know it. or if they have heard it, they don't feel it. do you know whose fault that is? Ours. the Church. Christians. put whatever name you want on it. but if you claim to love the Lord as your savior, you are His love letter to the people in this world that do not know and love Him. and by the looks of the world that we live in today, WE are the ones that are lost. the Church. the Christians. we have been charged with a huge responsibility. we are to share the love and the grace that we have received. and largely, we are not doing so.

so if you have gotten this far and you see any validity in what I am saying, I want you to ask yourself a question. what love letter do you believe the Lord has charged you with writing and how are you going to get the letter where it needs to go? I don't know about you. but I would rather be like a letter delivered thru Amazon prime, exactly what someone needs, when they need it right where they are at, than a letter sent by the postal service that may or may not get where it needs to be, definitely after it is too late to do any good. 

the Lord loves us and all of those in the world around us. THAT is a message worth delivering. don't let that be lost 💕