Recently Hailey and I walked into a grocery store that I had never been to before to quickly pick up a couple of 2 liters. I thought I knew where the pop (not soda) was located in the store and confidently fast walked in that direction. After arriving at the far end of the store only to find paper plates, dog food, and healthcare items, I stopped, spent a couple minutes looking around and then finally asked Hailey where she thought the pop was. She replied, “Oh, it is where we came into the store, I thought you were looking for something else.” I had led my girl on a 5 minute, mini-cardio exercise because I was confident I knew where I was going and in reality was completely on the wrong side of the store.
Sometimes isn’t that the way life feels when you have given your life to Christ, you have great intentions of living for God, you think you know what to do, but after trying for awhile you realize you aren’t sure you are in the right place or that you are doing the right things. It hits you that the idea that you had when you became a Christian, that things would be easier or at the very least knowing what to do, identifying your purpose, and understanding what direction to go would be clear, feels like more of a myth than a truth. In that moment most found people either become paralyzed and stop trying to live a found life, they adopt a cause and attach God’s voice behind it, or simply coast through the remainder of their life.
In our world that is technologically, philosophically, and experientially advancing at an incredibly exciting rate, discerning how to live a found life in a lost world has become challenging at best. For example in the age of red cups, terrorism in Paris and around the world, Syrian refugees, same sex marriage, the presidential campaign, and the Iowa Hawkeyes being 11-0 and fighting for college football playoff position how should you respond to these issues as a found person? Should you boycott Starbucks or post your support by taking a picture of a red cup on your instagram account? Should a found person change their facebook profile with the French flag, a rainbow flag, or should you abstain from all of that craziness because after all found people must ask What Would Jesus Do and He most certainly would be above all of these discussions? Should found people respond to the insanity of the presidential campaign and make a public outcry about Trump’s claims (and hair), Hillary’s past job performance, or the debates that remind all of us of a middle school nightmare that our teacher made us participate in?
Being found in a lost world is difficult, challenging, and complex. What does God want us to do? After all, the Bible says Jesus got upset and threw tables, that Jesus confronted lies and injustices, and that He loved the unlovable, but yet never served as a political leader and never used military or physical authority to get His will accomplished. How do we interact with a lost world in a way that shows the heart of Jesus for it? Matthew 6 is a chapter dedicated to Jesus addressing the disciples about 2 areas that found people regularly find themselves mired in: hypocrisy and world mindedness. Jesus used Matthew 6 to give the disciples tools so that they could learn to live an advancing life as found people in a lost world.
Matthew 6:33 is a foundational verse in the instruction, as Jesus simply says, “Seek God first and everything about who He is and THEN all of the other things you are wanting will be given to you.” Being successful in a lost world will be dependent upon how you, we, unpack and live this verse. Do we find a cause and put Jesus’ name behind it or do we seek God and let Him put the cause (and our response) in our hearts and passions. Do we seek God for direction in navigating our way in this lost world or do we decide a path and claim God’s blessing on it?
Handles In Being Found in a Lost World:
- Identify how you are living and what areas that you have claimed as doing in the name of God.
- Repent – ask God to forgive you for the things (most will be good things) that you did in His name that He didn’t direct you to do – check your facebook, instagram, vine accounts if you need help in identifying areas.
- Seek God – read the Bible, pray, grow – start with Matthew 6 and read it as if Jesus was teaching you on how to guard yourself from hypocrisy and world mindedness.
- Respond – ask God for the cause and the response He has for you to love this world with. He will show you. It won’t be comfortable and maybe not the issue or the response you want it to be
- Don’t give up.
Matt 6:33