This time of year, Christians talk a lot about God's forgiveness. But we humans so often think that we need to clean ourselves up of at least some of our sins before we can become 'acceptable enough' that God will forgive us. We're trying to keep our hands on the steering wheel, so to speak, even if we think that what we're doing is just 'repenting harder' so God will be certain to take us in. Maybe we think there's a chance he won't, if he sees us as we really are. But that's not the message of Scripture.
One of the most powerful illustrations of God's willingness to forgive us is the famous "Parable of the Prodigal Son" found in Luke 15:11-32. The son was a 'real brat,' disrespectful of his father to the point of a deadly insult (v. 12). As an unwise person, he just wasted all the money he had extracted from his father, and soon found himself with no resources. Maybe his plan for an independent life wasn't so good after all!
Finally he realized that his 'independent' position didn't measure up to what his father's hired servants had, and it would be smarter to go back home. So he rehearsed a lame speech and went home. To his surprise (and the surprise of Jesus' audience that day) his father wouldn't even let him apologize, but brought him back into the family and threw a huge, expensive party.
Today I want to focus on the most obvious meaning of this story: the willingness of the Father, as revealed here by Jesus, to welcome home his wandering children. It's not our initiative that coerces God to forgiveness: Romans 2:4 tells us that the "kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance." And not just those of us who are 'good enough' to receive it, but "that all should reach repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). How do we come to repentance? It is the Holy Spirit who alone can "lead you to repentance." We don't turn away from our sins because WE are good, but because GOD is good! His love is like that of the father in this story: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." We don't even travel all the way into our Father's arms -- he embraces us before we can get to him.
The Holy Spirit is working with all God's wandering children, even today, to bring us back to his arms. Who do you know who is still 'out there feeding pigs' instead of enjoying the warmth of God's house? Can you help them see how good God is? If you're uncertain about your ability to get that across, start with a lot of prayer to God about the person first, asking the Holy Spirit to work in drawing that person to Jesus, and to let you be a part of the conversation.
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