“And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20 NLT
I love the story of the lost son told by Jesus: this man had been given his share of his father’s inheritance but he had walked away from his family and squandered it all (just like humanity who take this God-given life and live independently of Him). For a time life seemed good but when he eventually realised how down and out and lost he had become, his mind turned to home. Not believing for one minute that his dad would accept him back he headed in the direction of home all the same, and then we read that verse…. read it again! 🔝
This is Jesus showing us what our Father God is like. Some of us still feel a long way off, but I want to remind you this morning that God doesn’t stand there arms folded tapping his foot waiting to chastise us and insisting we clean ourselves up. He runs with His arms wide open to embrace us, to change our stinking thinking, and to restore us to our rightful status as His much loved children. Compassion literally means to suffer together. The father moved, He got close to his son’s pain and remorse, He was hands on! Despite what the son had done, despite the state he was in, his father covered it all with the finest robe, put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, restoring him to his rightful place in the family. What an amazing illustration of what God has done for us through Jesus, entering into our suffering, and by His grace doing for us what we could never do for ourselves! Let’s start this week thanking Him for His amazing love and compassion towards us, determining that we will live, not as those who are lost, guilty and ashamed anymore, but as those who know the embrace of the Father! Amen? 👆🏼❤️