Jesus Kept the Lost and Found Box - Day 13

Where I went to grade school there was a “lost and found” box. It was always in the cloakroom where we hung our coats. If you forgot your hat or mittens or muffler on any given day, the teacher would say, "Go to the box and get something." You didn’t really want to do that because much of the stuff had been in that box for a long time. You just never knew what someone else might have done on that stuff. It looked cruddy and crummy and everyone could tell you were wearing someone else’s lost, discarded stuff.
Jesus was going into Jericho one day and there he spots a little man in a tree. His name is Zacchaeus. Jesus can tell that this man was desperate to see him, so Jesus called him down and then invited himself over to Zacchaeus’ home. Now those who saw this interaction grumbled because Zacchaeus was a sinner and a despised tax collector.
On the way to his home Zacchaeus promised to give to the poor and to pay back anyone that he has defrauded. Seeing Jesus and being with Jesus has changed his whole life.
At the end of the exchange Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” (Luke 19: 10) Zacchaeus was lost, then found. Jesus is in the Lost and Found business. I know this is true for me. I don’t even want to think about how lost I would be without Jesus. Even with Jesus I sometimes get lost. But then I get found again.
How might you be lost? If you think you can find your own life and meaning and purpose, then you don’t need Jesus much. I would say that if you think any of the above, then you must be really lost. The really lost folks are those who don’t think that they are.
The Christian life is about a lost and found adventure with Jesus. Once found by Jesus he sends us out to find other lost folks. Unlike those snotty objects in the bottom of the lost and found box, there is no child of God—not matter how snotty or dirty or nasty or torn—that Jesus doesn’t want. Once found he can and does clean us up.
Are you willing to join Jesus in the Lost and Found business?