Daily devotional, 30 May 2024 The lost dog
"For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
1 Peter 2:25
Lately, there are a slew of missing pet announcements in our community bulletin. Most of the notices encourage people to help find their lost dog or cat in exchange for a monetary reward. But do you know that there is a great reward for helping the spiritually lost find back their way?
The bible promises that if we will help bring back people who have forgotten or chose to forget the truths of the gospel and the church, we can help save their souls. In his epistle, the Apostle James, the brother of Jesus said:
"My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."
James 5:19-20
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ has proclaimed that He has come to seek and save the lost. One of the instances He demonstrated this was by spending time and dining with the notorious tax collector named Zacchaeus:
"And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:9-10
As followers of Jesus, we are called to bring back people who have lost their way with God. Those who have veered off their walk with Christ. Jesus’ other brother, Jude, also wrote an Epistle encouraging early Christians to show concern over other people’s salvation by either comforting or rebuking them so that they can get back on track in their faith walk.
"Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh."
Jude 1:23
Since we are once lost, we should have compassion for those who are wandering off faith. We have to help them regain their fellowship with the Lord, and we can only do that by being faithful to God’s command which is to spread His Gospel.
Practically, we can do this by thinking of at least three people in our life who need Jesus. Pray to God about our goal to help them get back to church or get to know the Lord. And then work on inviting them to Sunday worship, or a bible study, or teaching them to at least have quiet time everyday and read the bible.
When we make ourselves available to God in His efforts to bring back the lost, we can be sure that our God who sees our heart and every effort that we do, will be sure to reward our efforts.
“Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Mark 10:29-30
And while our main goal is not to reap these earthly and heavenly prizes, at least we know for a fact that our good God recognizes our efforts and has set rewards for it.
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Luke 19:1-10 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Have you ever exerted effort to save the lost?
Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, sorry for the times I neglected my duty to help bring back the lost. Please prompt me to make myself available to be used in reaching out to those who are spiritually lost, and badly need to get back on track with you. I want to help others as I have once been in their shoes, and you still chose to save me. Thank you for the redemption my Lord. Amen.
