Mike overheard his mother tell Patty, his older sister, that there was some money on the table to buy some hot dogs. “Will you please run to the store for me?” she asked. “Daddy will be home in an hour, and I haven’t started dinner yet.”
Mike, who was just 4 years old, thought to himself, “I know where the store is. I can do it.” So he took the money off the table and ran off all alone. He really thought that he was doing the right thing and was happy that he could be Mother’s helper.
Although it was summertime there was a cold wind blowing off the lake. It had been warm when Mike had played outside earlier in the day. But now as he walked, skipped and ran to the store, he started to get cold.
Mike was gone only a few minutes when Mother wondered where he was. She went all through the house calling and looking for him. “Mike, Mike!” she called out the door several times. Then she asked Patty to look around for him before she went to the store. She called him, too, but there was no answer. No one had seen Mike leave, so no one knew where he was. Mother was very worried. Where could he have gone? She decided to call the police.
“Are you lost, little boy?” a gentle voice asked Mike.
He looked up into the face of a kind lady and started to cry. “I can’t find my mommy,” he sobbed, “and I’m cold.”
The lady picked up little Mike and held him close as she walked down the street to the nearest phone. She called the police and told them about Mike. They thought he was probably the same little boy that they were looking for. Soon a police car came to take Mike, and it was not long until he was safe at home with his parents.
The first thing Mike said when he got home was, “Look, Mommy, I got the hot dogs!” Sure enough, he had brought a bag home with him, and in it was a package of weiners and the change from the money.
Now Mother figured out what he had done. “Couldn’t you find your way home?” Mother asked holding him tightly.
“No. I couldn’t find our street, and I walked and walked,” explained Mike.
Poor Mike. He had turned the wrong direction after coming out of the store. He had been going the wrong way!
Mike was really lost. He had walked and walked trying to find his own way home, but couldn’t. He need someone to help him, to show him the way. The lady that found him knew just what to do to get Mike back home.
The Bible tells us that “the Son of man (the Lord Jesus Christ) is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10). It also tells us that we have all turned our own way. Each of us is a sinner and going away from God. We are lost and cannot find our own way back to God. It is sin that keeps us away from Him. We are lost — lost in sin.
But God sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to save the lost. God says you need a Saviour. Little Mike admitted he was lost. We know he was glad to accept the kind lady’s help. He did not tell her to go away, that he would find his own way home. Will you admit that you are lost, and accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? God cannot accept you with your sins, but the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood to wash away sins. Accept Him as your Saviour so that He can take you to His home in heaven forever.
ML-11/15/1987