Lost? I’m Not Lost!

An old sailor frequently got lost at sea.  Somehow his friends always managed to track him down.  Fed up with his terrible navigation skills, his friends gave him a compass and insisted he use it.  The next time he went out to sea he brought the compass with him.  Inevitably, he became lost once again.  Just like usual, his friends somehow found him and rescued him.  Annoyed and frustrated, his friends asked, “Why didn't you use the compass we gave you?  You could have saved us a lot of trouble!"  The old sailor responded, “I didn't dare to!  I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast."  This old sailor was positive he knew which way was north.  He was so sure of his sense of direction that when the compass didn’t agree with him, he stubbornly tossed it aside despite its pinpoint accuracy.

Maybe it’s because of pride or the fear of embarrassment, but we don’t like to admit when we are lost.  We don’t like to show weakness and vulnerability.  Some men have even earned reputations for their willful refusal to stop and ask for directions.  Most people who won’t ask for directions are stubborn.  They don’t like to be wrong and asking for directions is a blatant confession of mistakes.

Most people are stubborn to some degree.  Strangely, this obstinate attitude seems to multiply when people are spiritually lost.  For some reason, people blatantly refuse to admit their error on topics like religion and politics.  While getting lost is usually silly and harmless, the most serious situation is when someone is spiritually lost.

The reason the Bible was given to us was so we could find out how to get to heaven.  As a result, God included in this book everything, yes every single thing, we need for this life and for godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Bible we have today came directly from God and was given to us “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

To put it simply, the Bible must be the compass for our lives.  It determines how a person is saved (1 Peter 3:21; Acts 2:38), when a person is lost (Ephesians 2:1f; 1 John 1:5-10), and how to get to heaven (Revelation 2:10; Matthew 7:21-23).  The Bible is the perfect set of direction, the best map, and the ultimate compass.

Let’s stop being like the old sailor.  If we’re going one direction and the Bible is pointing us in another, it’s time to change course!

There Is A Way For Me

Neal Pollard

Born to a world of sin and woe,

With vile behavior raging,

How many know not how to go?

In iniquity in ignorance engaging.

Why did my path cross Jesus' way

When others may never know it?

Through grace He changed my night to day

I didn't deserve for Him to bestow it.

I am convinced of His love for me,

That led me to the Sonlight.

I'm precious to Him, I plainly see

He delivered me from sin's dark night.

Lord, help me see those many souls

That grope for eternal direction

To lead them toward that upward goal

And experience the joy of election!

A World Of Hurt

Neal Pollard

Typhoon Bopha is the latest example of a natural disaster striking a third-world nation.  Many countries in this world struggle in a subsistent lifestyle as it is, and the slightest adversities, much less major catastrophes, further undermine a people who live at the financial edge.  Most countries where I have traveled are such nations, filled with those who are literally concerned with having their "daily bread" (Lk. 11:3) or "food and covering" (1 Tim. 6:8).  The Middle East is riddled with violence and political uprising.  Nations like Mexico are impacted by anarchical drug lords.  But, despite the reality of earthquakes and storms, revolution, and political corruption, the billions of people on our planet are most threatened by the oldest problem of all--sin.  Famine-stricken children rightly pull at our heartstrings, as we look at bloated stomach and sunken eyes.  That is because their suffering is visible, observable by the naked eye.

The richest people in western nations like ours down to the poorest people in urban slums around the world are all besieged by an invisible plague.  That plague destroys souls. It leads to an eternity spent apart from God in a place words cannot adequately depict. Even if those in the world cannot feel it, the hurt is no less real.

The Red Cross and other international relief societies have nothing on their planes and trucks to remedy this ill, unless someone is carrying a Bible.  It reveals the "balm of Gilead" (cf. Jer. 8:22), the cure of the Great Physician (cf. Mk. 2:17), and the help of the spiritually sick (1 Cor. 11:30). It offers the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35) and the Water of Life (Jn. 4:11; Rev. 7:17).  It offers the way to the Father's house (Jn. 14:2,6), a place where the security is unbeatable (Rev. 21:27).  God relies on us to get spiritual relief to the billions of sin-sick and those held captive by the devil (2 Tim. 2:26).  But it begins by our caring that the lost are lost.  Until that matters to us, we will remain oblivious to their need (and our own).