Whenever We’ve Lost Our Way, Look For the Cross

The story is told of a little boy who wandered away home and couldn’t find his way back. Kind strangers found him crying and offered to take him to his house. But he didn’t know his address, so instead they took him to the local police station for help.

 

An officer patiently questioned him, trying to ascertain where he lived, but all the little boy was able to offer was his name. Then he remembered, “I live close to a church with a really big cross. If you take me to the cross, I can find my way home.”

 

Isn’t this a parable of where many people are as individuals, as well as our society? Feeling lost, desperately so. They – and we collectively – need to be taken to the Cross so we can find our way back home again.

 

This reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son in the gospel of Luke, chapter 15. The younger son, apparently tired of waiting for his father to die so he could collect his inheritance, insisted on receiving it in advance. “Father, give me my share of the estate” (Luke 15:12). The story doesn’t detail how the father felt in hearing such an outlandish, insulting request; Jesus simply said the father agreed and divided the property between his two sons.

 

The ungrateful son proceeded to squander his wealth on wild living, then fell on hard times when a severe famine hit the entire country. His despair became so deep, he hired himself to tend pigs and then envied the slop he was feeding them. Finally, the wayward young man rationalized: Why not return home, throw himself at his father’s mercy, and become a hired hand?

 

Instead, the father rejoiced at the son’s return, embracing and kissing him, and throwing a party to celebrate. There’s more to Jesus’ parable, but it ends with the father telling the indignant older brother, “we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32).

 

It’s not too difficult to imagine how God feels about much of what’s going on across our nation and around the world. We’ve taken His bountiful blessings without gratitude, and in effect have thumbed our noses at Him, declaring we don’t need Him and want Him out of our lives. We know what’s best for our lives. Or so we think.

 

However, it seems after wild, riotous living, hard times have come and more may be on the way. We’ve gone through a pandemic, fearing it might not be over. Inflation in general and gas prices in particular are emptying our wallets. Senseless violence spirals out of control. War and rumors of war have worn us out. Deeply rooted, conflicting worldviews have practically eliminated civil discourse. 

 

Our nation has never been perfect – and never claimed to be – but the press to dispense with the traditional values and beliefs that have served as the bedrock for our society has escalated beyond anything we could have imagined even 10 years ago.

 

Figuratively speaking, we might soon end up wallowing with the hogs. God, who is loving, but also holy, righteous and just, is patiently, expectantly waiting for us to recognize our need to return to the Cross and find our way home.

 

It seems we’re marching toward a state of overwhelming exhaustion; feelings of hopelessness and despair are not uncommon. Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

 

Why should we return to the Lord? Because in Romans 5:8 we’re assured, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy that said, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-2). Who among us is without sin?

 

As I write this, the word of the old hymn, “Softly and Tenderly,” come to mind: “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me…. Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home; Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!”

 

I wonder how much more folks will have to endure to respond to this invitation by our God to “come home”? Jesus also told several stories to warn that this invite has a deadline; one day it will be too late to respond. Who knows how close to it we might be even now? If you haven't done so already, look for the Cross.