Have you ever happened upon a child crying in the grocery store? It breaks your heart, doesn’t it? Compassion demands that you try to help.
“What’s wrong?” you ask gently.
“I’m lost,” the child sobs.
“No you’re not,” you reply with a smile.
The child, looks up at you through tear filled eyes and wails, “Yes I am!”
“No you are not,” you say gently, but firmly. “You are a beautiful little girl! You are powerful and worthy of respect!”
She sniffles and replies, “But I can’t find my mommy!”
“Your Mommy loves you very much,” you exclaim. “Don’t let anyone tell you that she doesn’t!”
The girl begins to cry again.
You hold up a hand and say, “I’m going to tell you a secret. I’ve been lost too. Really! I’m not better than you! Everybody gets lost sometimes!”
The girl wails loudly, “I just want my Mommy!”
You assure her, “Many paths lead to your mother. Trust your heart! It will tell you which one to take!”
“I’m afraid,” she whimpers.
You cheerfully reply, “Don’t worry! I’ll walk with you on your journey!”
You take the little girl by the hand and allow her infallible heart to lead you both up and down the cereal aisle. Gradually, the little girl quits crying!
After a few hours, the girl leads you out of the store into a nearby park where you spend the afternoon playing on the teeter-totters and monkey bars. It warms your heart to see her smile…
This is how pagans love their neighbors. They themselves are lost, so they can’t help anyone else find their way.
Often, this is also how Christians love their neighbors. In many cases, the mission of the church changed from making disciples to making lost people smile.
After all, it’s arrogant to insist that your way is the best way to find the front door of the grocery.
So this is the process for helping lost people according to many modern churches:
- Make certain lost people know they’re loved.
- Insist that God is principally concerned with their happiness.
- Assure lost people that there’s no such thing as lost people.
- Leave them lost.
- Tell ourselves that we’re changing lives.
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Luke 19:9
2 Responses
That is a scary good description of how the lost “help” the lost. Jesus phrased the problem as a question in the form of a parable.
“Luke 6:39 New American Standard Bible
39 Now He also spoke a parable to them: “A person who is blind cannot guide another who is blind, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?”
The path is curvy and wide – or something like that.