Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

My dad taught me how to hunt when I was young. Surprisingly one of the most important lessons he gave me was in how not to get lost. It was more important than discovering what to do when you do get lost.

Situational awareness is key. Terrain features, mountains, lakes, streams, swamps, marshes, logging roads, property boundaries, and any easily identified features and their relationship to each other is vital. The time of day is always required. A good compass helps.

What does that have to do with the opening verse?

Those tools will not help you to keep from being lost in that sense. You were born lost and just didn’t know it. The tendency for people who find themselves lost always seem to look to their past to discover where they went wrong, like trying to retrace their steps to get back to a place they didn’t feel lost.

It doesn’t work.

Jesus came to seek you out and to find you. Once He has you, you are no longer lost. Guess what happens then? You find yourself in God’s Kingdom and nothing is familiar, because it is not of this world. Now that you have been found, saved, is when you have to use the tools I described earlier. Now that you are saved, you need to study the terrain, identify the landmarks, establish relationships, and understand this new territory.

The bible is your topical map. The Holy Spirit is your compass and He always points towards Jesus. While the compass is vital, it will not identify swamps, marshes and bogs. He may lead you to lakes and rivers. Hey, we are Fishers of men, are we not?

The cool part is that no matter where you are, you are never lost.

Prevenient Has Latin Roots  – It would be quite convenient to know where the word prevenient comes from. Can you find two relatives of “prevenient” in that sentence? You probably guessed that “convenient” is a cousin – and you’re right; it derives from the Latin verb convenire, meaning “to come together or “to be suitable,” which is itself from venire, meaning “to come.” “Prevenient,” which first appeared in English in the 17th century, comes to us from the Latin praevenire (“to come before” or “to anticipate”), which is also from “venire.” The other (albeit distant) relative of “prevenient” in the opening sentence is “come”; it shares an ancient ancestor with “venire.” Source Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Prevenient Grace was knew to me and difficult to recognize at the time of its installation in my life. The fact that God anticipated a specific need in my life does not equate to my recognition of that need. I will never know what might have befallen me without prevenient grace. I might have died before coming to know Christ. It is possible. I will never know because God’s grace in that moment was foreknowledge on His part.

This differs greatly from the grace wherein I stand today. I recognize the need, its issues, its abundance and reason. The shift from prevenient grace to all the other types of grace is in the anticipation. I am now the author of anticipation, not because I am wise or prophetic. It is because I am experienced.

Convenient grace has the ability to replace itself within the user’s warehouse of grace. We have been given the ability to extend grace, issued from this warehouse, without fear of ever running out.

Proverbs 3:9-10 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.