Valuing the Valuable

What our attitudes toward the lost say about what we value

On a recent trip to the mall, I watched as a young man dropped a nickel while walking through the mall. When I pointed out to him, he wasn’t interested in it and walked away. So I put it in my pocket. The nickel wasn’t worth his effort. He saw it as dispensable.

Shortly after that I found myself walking past a quarter that had been lying on a step in my house for a few days. The thought occurred to me, “Why didn’t I pick that quarter up sooner?” My answer was, ‘I guess I didn’t see it as valuable enough to take the time or make the effort to pick it up.’ It was then I remembered the incident in the mall just days earlier.

In the busyness of our lives, we often look at the lost as I did that quarter- not valuable enough to take the time or make the effort to reach. In other words valuing other things above the lost. Jonah in the Old Testament had the same issue. He was more concerned about the death of the plant that gave him shade than the death of the 125,000 in the city of Nineveh. Jonah didn’t possess the plant, didn’t work to grow it or cultivate it. Yet, its death caused him to be angry enough to want to die. Jonah was willing to die for a plant but not the lost souls of Nineveh - after all they were ‘the enemy’. We are all like Jonah. All of us at one time or another value our own comfort level over the salvation of the lost. We refuse to get out of our comfort zones and sacrifice our time effort or resource.

Jonah wasn’t the only one that had issues with valuing the correct things. The Pharisees were constantly valuing themselves above everything else. They were more concerned about themselves and not breaking the law than they were breaking the heart of God with their callous attitude. In Luke 15 the Pharisees valued themselves over the publicans and sinners. They found no value in anyone else other than themselves. It angered them that Christ continuously spent time with those who the Pharisees thought had no value. We give time to what we value, and Christ was no different. He obviously valued the lost, since that’s where he spent a large portion of his time and efforts.

Further on in Luke 15, Christ attempts to teach that value of the lost over:
· those already in the fold in the parable of the lost sheep
· those already found in the parable of the lost coin
· those who are already working for the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

In each of the parables Christ attempts to teach those who will listen the fact that above all else, the lost are of greatest importance.

So, how do we refocus our attitude to be like Christ’s - to value what he values - the lost?

1. We must see our own dependence on Christ.
2. We must meet them on their level of Spiritual interest.
3. We must see their relationship with Christ as not only possible but necessary.
4. We must see Christ’s heart for seeking and saving that which is lost and pray that our heart be change to be like His.
5. We must be willing to abandon own agendas and excuses and intentionally seek to find those who are far from Christ and include them in our lives.

In order to have a desire to be the witness God has called us to be, we must see the lost as God sees them - as more valuable then things or even ourselves. We must see His relationship with them and their relationship with him - not only possible but as valuable. We must value them as God values them, and celebrate with them when they come back to Him.