When you run with 60,000 people, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. The Peachtree Road Race has so many runners at the end of the race that they have huge balloons with letters on them so you can find your friends at the finish line. I always tell the folks that run with me to meet me at the “A” balloon since I can usually remember my last name, even when I am oxygen deprived.
Every time I run the Peachtree, my goal is simple, finish the race and leave with the same people I came with. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to stand by my balloon and never have the ones I care about show up. It would be heart breaking to finish my race and lose the people I care about in the process.
The interesting thing about the Peachtree Road Race is that they actually have a “lost and found” area at the finish line. That lost and found is for people not things! If you can’t find someone at the finish line, you simply go to the lost and found area and look for them.
Luke 19:10 tells us that “Jesus came to seek and save the lost”. In other words, Jesus wanted to take as many people to Heaven as possible. He came to make it possible for humans to have eternal life in heaven. Passing on that message of eternal life is now our responsibility. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have been given the task of reaching the lost world and helping them be found. I heard someone say it this way, “found people find people”.
The difference between our race as disciples and the Peachtree is that we seek to find lost people before the finish line or we are too late. Our goal should be to find lost people while we are running the race not after the race is over. We must never forget the first step in making disciples is to “reach the lost”. You cannot make a disciple until a person becomes a Christ follower. Jesus told us to “go, baptize and teach”.
If every disciple is reaching people for Christ “as we go”, then we can put a dent in the darkness. The lost can be found when we are all working together to reach our world for Christ.
Impact Ministries is very committed to helping you learn how to reach the lost. If you would like to know more about how to reach our world, check out a new resource called “Reaching Our World” at impactdisciples.com.
