Come Home See Less
I think people have a tendency to gloss over the parable Jesus told of the prodigal son. Maybe it hits harder to home more than they like, but this is one of the most important parables to fully grasp. The younger son, full of himself, takes off on his own to live the good life while squandering his inheritance. At one time or another,who hasn’t thought they knew it all, and so what if I’m a little rowdy, I’m not hurting anybody but myself. Exactly! Now maybe we never got to the point of eating slop (or maybe we have), but every self indulgent high will be followed by a sorrowful low. The Prodigal came to his senses and knew he had to change and was more than willing to do so. He would repent and ask his father if he could be one of his servants. Change,we all can change, it’s a determined choice and we are all capable of it. Humbly he approached his father, not knowing what to expect, and I’m sure he was amazed at his father’s reaction. Jesus told this parable for us to understand our Heavenly Father’s reaction to a repentant heart. He knows everything we’ve done, every gutter we’ve run in, He knows our failings, and He still wants us to come home. He wants to give us a new robe, a ring, new sandals, and to kill the flatted calf. Some angels have a great job, they’re waiting around for prodigals to come home so they can rejoice! God opened the tomb so Jesus could open the door. He’s waiting for you, time to come home!
Whenever something drastic happens in the world, the cry goes out, “end times, end times.” Maybe, maybe not. Think of Job, he must have felt it was the end of times for him. Think about the suffering Christians were going through in communist socialist countries in the 70’s and 80’s. That must of seemed like the end times to them. Today, Christians in Muslim countries being beheaded for their faith! End times? Nobody knows. Jesus didn’t know, the angels don’t know, TV evangelists definitely don’t know, only God knows! Whether it’s end times, or just bad times, if you want to make it better times read 2 Chronicles 7:14 and then do t! “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Time and again, God has forgiven His people. So what does He ask? Humble ourselves (let the ego go) pray (as much as you can) seek His face (in His Word, in worship, and again in prayer) and turn from our evil (selfish) ways. The church must be the light to an otherwise darkened world. We must show love for one another and then to others, and whether in a church building, a living room, a carport, we need to humbly seek His face. End times … alright, bring me home Lord! Just bad times … let us obediently strive to make them better times!
Where do you run to in times of trouble? Who is the first one you turn to when things are falling apart around you? Do you say like King David, “The Lord is my refuge and fortress; my God, in Him will I trust”? Do you proclaim as he did, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” There is not
Why did God give the 10 Commandments and the Law? So people would think of Him as some prudish judge looking down on us, holding a big.black marker in His hand, just waiting for us to do something wrong so He could check it off and give us a demerit? No! God is holy and righteous, awesome and mighty, loving and forgiving. He gave us the Commandments and the Law to expose our sins, show that we could never redeem ourselves, our desperate need of Him, a
Why do people think they could possibly do anything to earn their way into heaven? Maybe because we don’t look at sin the same way God does? People have a tendency to rate sins, like murder would be a ten and a little white lie a one. It’s one thing to cheat on taxes but cheating on your wife a whole other ballgame. Stealing a candy bar from a 7/11 can’t be as bad as robbing a bank, can it? I mean, if I consistently keep 9 out of 10 commandments, that