“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39). If we have never once in our lives been lost then we are extremely fortunate, but that luck won't last forever. There are a lot of different ways that we can get lost in this life. We can know better and deliberately choose to wander off into forbidden paths. That is one of the quickest and most foolproof ways to get well and truly lost. We can allow ourselves to get distracted or lag behind and get lost from our group or our leader. We can become confused and even while using our best judgment we nevertheless inadvertently choose the wrong fork in the road and leave the true path. And sometimes we get yanked off the path by a whirlwind, or abducted by an enemy, or blinded by the pain and darkness until we can no longer find the true path. Whatever the reasons, the first step is admitting at least to ourselves that we are actually lost. Someone who does not believe themselves to be lost will not stop to ask for directions or consider where they are or whether or not they are on the right path to get to where they need to go. When we “find our lives” we have no need for anyone to come find us or save us. It is only when we really let the reality of our situation sink in that we will acknowledge that we can't find our way back on our own. When Christ promises that we shall find our lives when we lose them for His sake, He is not asking us to lose our lives out of some grand gesture of sacrifice or humility. It is not even so much about actively giving up our life and thus “losing” it. When we admit we are lost we do so for Jesus Christ’s sake because He is anxious to save us and every second we continue being lost only adds to His sorrow and misery. However, once we admit that we are lost, He can finally lead us back to safety. “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment” (Ezekiel 34:16). If we find that we are wading through much tribulation and sorrow, then let's just agree to admit that we got lost. It is not something that we need to be ashamed of because it has happened to every single one of God's children save for Jesus Christ Himself. Moses, one of the greatest prophets to ever live, was lost for forty years in the desert. Jonah got lost two or three times on the way to Nineveh, and then tried to get lost again almost as soon as he got there. Christ has given us permission to stop pretending that we are clever enough or strong enough to save or to find ourselves on our own. We got lost and now that we are lost, we can be found. We should never feel like we have to make some deliberate show of “losing ourselves,” but rather simply learn to recognize the moment we are lost and do everything we can to hasten our Savior finding and saving us. Jesus Christ came not to heal the healthy but the sick, not to call the righteous but the sinners to repent, not to find that which was already found but rather those who are lost.
