For the Son of Man came to seek and to
save the lost. Luke
19:10 NIV
One mark of a
true follower of Christ is a sincere
desire to become more like Jesus in both heart and action. When we received Christ, our hearts were
renewed and we received a fresh appetite to do God’s will. While we are not perfect, we do want to have more and more of God’s
goodness in us. We want to live in
harmony with God’s good will.
In Luke 19:10,
we have a clear description of Christ’s passion “to seek and save the
lost.” If this is Christ’s passion, that
means God has planted this same desire in us.
It may flicker at varying degrees of intensity, but the spark of love
for the lost is in our hearts. How can
we fan the flame of this love?
One of the
simplest ways to fan this flame is to
pray for specific lost people that we know. Who do you know that has not been restored to
a relationship with God? The issue is
their heart toward God. Do they trust
him or ignore him? You will find lost
people among both the naughty and the nice.
A rule follower can be just as lost as a rule breaker. The story of the prodigal son teaches this
to us.
This week, set
aside a few moments to ask God to give you a burden to pray for 2-3 people who have not discovered the joy of a
restored relationship with God. Write
their names down and commit to praying for them at least once a week. To further strengthen your love for the lost,
choose a country in North Africa or Asia where there are many who don’t
know the true God and commit to praying
at least once a week for people in that country to repent and turn to God
through Christ.
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