Man is Lost, but He is Not Nothing

Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer wrote,

The Bible teaches that, though man is hopelessly lost, he is not nothing. Man is lost because he is separated from God, his true reference point, by true moral guilt. But he never will be nothing. Therein lies the horror of his lostness. For man to be lost, in all his uniqueness and wonder, is tragic. [Escape From Reason, 90]

God’s good news in Christ remedies this tragedy.  As the second Adam, Jesus, God’s Son, came to rescue men and women from their lost state incurred by sin and reconcile them to God. Jesus, the image of the invisible God, restores the brokenness of men and women created in God’s image by dying for their sin and triumphing over death.

God has not abandoned sinners to their lostness. He has not left humanity, the wonder of creation, to wander this world under his judgment alone. In the person and work of Christ Jesus, God seeks and saves lost men and women and finds them.

Jesus is in the business of pursuing lost people and making them new people. You may be and feel lost and hopeless, but you are not nothing. God finds and saves people just like you. Jesus is the hope of humanity because he is God come in the flesh who saves fallen men and women who find their hope in him.