It seems like I’ve gotten “lost” over the past couple of months when it comes to writing.  There are a number of reasons for that which I hope to write about soon.  However, I do want to finish up this 4-part series with this final segment called, “Teach”.

As I looked at in the previous three articles, there is a progression that we move through as we break free from being “lost”.  We begin by learning to listen.  We hear a lot of things, but we are not particularly good at listening — especially when it comes to listening to God.

As an outgrowth of listening, we begin to observe.  We take notice of what God is doing in, through, and around us.  Our observations lead us to see a different path, or direction, we ought to be taking so that we’re no longer in a lost condition.

The hardest part for most people is often the third stage where we must surrender.  All of the listening and observing does little good if we are unwilling to surrender to what God has called us to be.  Surrendering is an admission that we are lost and in need of direction that only God can give.

That brings us to this final stage — one that is often overlooked because we think that completing the stage of surrender brings us out of our lost condition and completes our “quest”.  But there is much more to it.  We don’t become “un-lost” strictly for our own benefit.  We must teach that which we’ve learned on our journey.  Jesus states in Matthew that we are not simply to make disciples through a process of bringing them to full surrender, we must also be busy about “teaching them to obey all that [He] commanded.”

I’ve been taught, and believe, that you cannot teach what you do not know.  I would go a step further and say that you cannot effectively teach what you do not practice.  We teach by what we say, but we often teach much more by what we do.  In order to effectively teach what Jesus commanded, we must be doing what Jesus commanded.  As we live a surrendered life, we must be busy teaching that same surrendered lifestyle to others.  Listening is not natural for most people, so when we use the tool of listening we gain a valuable practice that we ought to be teaching to others.  As we observe the working of God, we ought to teach others to take notice of what God is doing in and around them as well. 

I pray that as you take note of these L.O.S.T. principles, that you would apply them in your life and live them out in a way that teaches others that you have found direction through a relationship with Jesus Christ.