I think we're all familiar with lostness ... we lose our keys, we lose our phones, we lose our passwords. We lose patience. But here's what's interesting - the value of something often becomes much clearer when it's lost.
Jesus uses the metaphor of being lost and found when He speaks about sin and salvation. Sin - putting ourselves in the place of God to be our own saviour and love - alienates us from God and leaves us lost. But Jesus summarized His entire mission saying that He came to seek and save the lost." Luke 19:10
In the story Jesus told - there are two sons - both lost in different ways - one lost through rebellion and the other lost through religion.
The younger son's lostness is easy to see. But Jesus tells His story to help us see a more dangerous form of lostness - religious lostness - which brings just as much sadness and misery into the world as younger brother lostness but it’s way more subtle. And that's why it's so dangerous.
