Getting lost can come by either voluntarily or un-voluntarily. There are those who accidently get lost when they lose their sense of direction after making many turns, and there are those who are in the habit of not paying attention to where they are going frequently get lost. And, yet there are those who after a discussion or argument run away and are never found. Getting lost can happen to any one and the reaction after getting lost most of the time is that of repentance; they wish they had never taken that turn. In God getting lost requires the same after effect reaction; that of repentance. Many of us a slowly getting lost, but without any reaction. Jesus spoke about three things that got lost; the sheep, the coin and the son, and were found.
Luke 15:4-7
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Sheep are known to have the characteristics of being naïve and innocent and if not watched for carefully have the tendency of getting lost frequently. They tend to be self centered and do not focus on the bigger picture. Jesus spoke to the religious people that some of us are like those sheep that when we get lost repentance is not in the spectrum. Job understood this concept of getting lost in his self righteousness and repenting afterward (Job 42:6). Getting lost deals with being on the right track and deviating from it until one has forgotten the way back. God is in the business of finding the lost sheep especially those who want to be found. The Psalmist said “I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands” (Ps. 119:176).
There are those who are lost like the coin (Lk. 15:9-10). They do not recognize that they are lost. They do not have any idea that they are lost. This condition is one of the hardest to deal with because being like a coin who does not think about its state. Paul said to the church in 2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, it is the coin mind. The coin when tossed it goes where ever it is tossed and rolls until it stops and then it will not move and some are like the coin; they roll and drop.
Some are the like the prodigal son who make the decision to leave and get lost. After the son received all his goods from his father he left to spend all his money and get lost. Like the son when one decides to get lost their state of mind is that of confused and of repentance. The son decided to go back to where he belonged once he noticed that he was lost and when God sees that we want to come home he comes to receive us (Lk. 15:24).