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“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 ESV)
Last Summer while visiting Germany, I had the stressful experience of being lost in a foreign country. I took the wrong bus ( there were buses everywhere) and I was dropped off in the wrong part of the city that I was staying in. It was a strange feeling that I hadn’t experienced since the second grade, when I got on the wrong bus at my new elementary school. Even as a second grader I was able to communicate with the bus driver, and after a couple of minutes I was aware that I had gotten on the wrong bus. Needless to say I was glad to find an elderly German lady who actually spoke English at that bus stop.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of relief to find a friendly person in a foreign land who spoke my language. That stranger (I wonder if she was an angel?) helped me to find my bearings and to get to my intended destination. I think that it’s important for followers of Jesus to reflect back on the time in our lives when we were lost and didn’t know God. And, to rehearse the same awe and wonder in our minds that we once felt in our new-found relationship with Jesus. He was that friendly person who found us when we were lost. And, Jesus didn’t just point us in the right direction – he is “the way, the truth and the life.”
Even if you were too young to remember your salvation experience very well – many of us have strayed off the path at some point in our lives. In fact, I’ve had the good Shepherd seek me out and find me many times over the years, as I attempted to ‘do my own thing.’ This doesn’t mean that after we come to really know God, that if we stray away for a season in our lives, that we are eternally lost. It just means that we’ve temporarily lost our way because of disillusionment with life, and our spiritual rebellion.
We see the Father heart of God in the parable of the prodigal son. When his lost son returned from his rebellious journey he had to explain to the prodigal’s older and very religious elder brother that: “He was lost, but now he is found!” (Luke 15:32 NIV)
The point is: we need to know that we are lost in order to be found. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to reveal to us that we are lost and need a Friend (Jesus) to lead us back to the Father. And, that my friends is the beauty of the Trinity. The one God who is made up of three Persons in a divine community of love, that works on our behalf, to take us to our eternal destination, which is ultimately, the new heavens, and the new earth. God is guiding, leading and calling us to co-labor and fellowship with him on our journey (in this foreign land) until we meet him, face to face.