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.