About this time of year, the movie classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is aired or streamed on various platforms.  I’ve watched it the night before Christmas many times while doing last minute gift wrapping or putting something together for kids and then grandkids.  The movie, for me, is synonymous with something lost but now is found.   There may be some of you who haven’t yet taken the time to study this classic for it’s meaning and significance because of the hustle and bustle of the season, but it’s worth your time at least once in your lives.

Background:  It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas supernatural drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra. It is based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift self-published by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943.   The film stars James (Jimmy) Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams to help others in his community.  But when faced with a crisis of losing funds from the savings and loan bank where he is employed, thoughts defeat overwhelm him and he considers ending his life.  Thoughts of losing a life on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of George’s guardian angel, Clarence Odbody who appears in the physical form of a man. Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he did not exist.

George is lost.  He is caught up his emotions over losing money, void of meaningful significance because he has lost control as the “boss”, mentally exhausted with seemingly no hope on the horizon, and spiritually bankrupt (at least in my estimation of George). 

Clarence was sent to save George from self-destruction by showing him the way back home. George was lost but now he is found.  Watch the movie for yourself and evaluate the implications of lost and found.  It is a age old scenario of life.  Being found is a “wonderful life” to live.  George returns home to a party thrown in his honor.  All that was lost is found. 

Celebrating being found prompts a spontaneous party of rejoicing by the angels in heaven!  How do we know?  Jesus said so in part two of His trilogy about being lost but now found!

Luke 15, The Message

The Story of the Lost Coin

^8-10 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus was a master parable-teller; he loved to explain the deeper truths of God’s kingdom through stories. The trilogy of lost and found includes a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Through these illustrations, Jesus conveyed the immeasurable love of the Father for his children.  Whenever we’re ready to leave our mess, our heavenly Father is ready to accept us with open arms.  What is lost is found with celebration.

In fact, three words summarize the message of Jesus’ trilogy: lost, found, and rejoice. Jesus told these parables to answer the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes who were scandalized at His behavior. The Jewish religious leaders did not yet understand that the Son of Man “came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Even more, they were still blind to the fact that they themselves were among the lost. 

Luke makes it clear that there is one message of salvation: God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners.  These two parables help us understand something of what it means to be lost. To begin with, it means being out of place. Sheep belong with the flock, coins (of inheritance) belong on the chain, and lost sinners belong in fellowship with God. But to be lost also means being out of service. A lost sheep is of no value to the shepherd, a lost coin has no value to the owner, and a lost sinner cannot experience the enriching fulfillment God has for him in Jesus Christ.

The people who first heard them must have been shocked. Jesus was saying that God actually searches for lost sinners! No wonder the scribes and Pharisees were offended, for there was no place in their legalistic theology for a God like that. They had forgotten that God had sought out Adam and Eve when they had sinned and hidden from God. (Genesis 3) In spite of their supposed knowledge of Scripture, the scribes and Pharisees forgot that God was like a father who pitied His wayward children.  God knows us, loves us, and sent His Son to save us.

What kind of love is this?  Unchanging, never-ending, relentless, and forever. 

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.’) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39

Are you lost?  Are in search of a “wonderful life”?  Turn around and face our wonderful, awesome, relentless God of love!  Believe in Jesus who demonstrated the love of God by taking away our repented sins with his own life in exchange for our lives.  Come home to the One who knows you best and is, at this moment, looking “down the road” for your return.  “I was blind but now I see.” “I was lost but now I’m found” are the proclamations of the found!  And the angels in heaven party over each one found!

Still lost and need directions home?  Follow this road which includes important “rest stops” for thought and prayer:

• Rest Stop 1 | Romans 3:23. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
• Rest Stop 2 | Romans 5:8. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Come as you are.
• Rest Stop 3 | Romans 6:23. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  At this stop, we choose life or death.  If you chose life, then move on down the road to the Good News!
• Rest Stop 4 | Romans 8:1. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
• Rest Stop 5 | Romans 10:9. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
  That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
  Was blind, but now I see.

Angels, let the party begin!  I was lost but now am found!  Note:  I’m pretty sure this salvation party is never-ending as lost souls find their way home to our everlasting Father!

Lord,

You are Life to me!  The circumstances are not always “wonderful” here on this journey of learning, growing, and solidifying our faith in You.  But it is always full of love, mercy, and grace given as eternal gifts of Your Holy Spirit who lives in us to help us on the journey home.  When we seek you first in all we think, say, or do, we seek Life to the full with Love everlasting.  Being found in You brings peace that replaces discontentment.  Being found in you springs eternal, inexhaustible joy as your love flows through us.  As I define wonderful, I think only of You.

In Jesus Name, Amen