Stay On Mission – 29th October 2018

2. “I’ll get dirty and wet”
“For the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost” Luke 19:10
You may remember that I began this short series of reflections on ‘seeking’ as a result of my wife deciding to look for sea shells while we were on the beach in Pensacola.
As she did this there were a few things that she said that I found deeply significant as we consider joining Jesus in His Mission.
One of the first things that she said was “All of the best shells are at the bottom of a deep trough of water” she added “and they are not on the surface, you have to push your hands deep into the sand to find them. If I do that I’ll get dirty and wet”.
How amazing that such an innocent comment can help us to see such an amazing truth!
The shells that had made it to the shore were nearly all broken and cracked and she didn’t really want those. The unbroken ones were not quite on the part of the beach where she could walk. She would have to go into the water, get wet and dirty, and step outside of her comfort zone and, even then “I might get all wet and dirty ands till not find what I am looking for”.
I then heard her begin to call out to me “oh no, look there are enormous jelly fish that are all around the shells, and there are slugs and worms…….” She was realizing that finding the shells presented her with some challenges that she was not enjoying!
As with looking for shells so it is with looking for the lost. Those that Jesus sends us to seek are not all turning up at our church services every week. Many of them are in places where it is a little harder to reach them. They may not agree with all that we say and they may not be living the kind of life that we approve of. Finding them may require that we step outside of our comfort zone and, as Lynn said “get all wet and dirty” not literally but the reality is that seeking the lost among people who are beyond the walls of the church is not neat and tidy. We will find people who are often dealing with many issues, their lives are not always ‘together’ and introducing them to Jesus takes time, and effort and sometimes is just hard!
But, isn’t that exactly what Jesus did for us?
To step from heaven into humanity and to die on a Roman cross is probably as big a step outside of a comfort zone as anybody could ever take yet Jesus did it! For you and for me!
This week, ask the Lord to remind you of all that He did to ‘seek and to save you’ and then ask Him to guide you to those that he wants you to seek – even if it may not be comfortable!