Coming Home Again

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“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.  Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:22)
 
I say a lot of ridiculous things.  Most of the people that know me would testify to the truth of that statement.  I suppose it’s just part of who I am.  Some people would say I’m witty.  Others might call me comical.  I don’t know how much either of those things are true.  What I can say with certainty, though, is even I am surprised sometimes by the things that come out of my mouth.  I have this tendency to quote my great-grandmother in the most absurd situations that are unbelievably specific.  She almost certainly never said any of the things I quote her as saying; that’s just part of my humor, I guess.  I also like to use the expression, “If I had a nickel for every time…” There’s almost no end to the hilarity of using that expression attached to a situation you’ve clearly never even done once.  Of course, there are things that would be unmistakably valid used along with that phrase.  In fact, I can think of one that can honestly say: “If I had a nickel for ever time I’ve done…, I’d be rich.” Actually, so would you.  Collectively, we’d have more money than we could spend in a hundred lifetimes.  I’m talking about sin.
 
Monumental failure would probably be an apt description of the majority of our lives in the context of morality.  It’s true.  I’m usually the last person to be hard on myself or others, but it’s biblical reality that we were a complete mess of sin and guilt before salvation.  It’s not that we had slightly missed the mark of holiness.  We weren’t even facing in the right direction when we fired the arrow at the target!  The prophet Isaiah even describes our righteousness as filthy rags compared to God.  Again, the point isn’t to exemplify how sinful we are, but rather how holy God is compared to us.  When we put it like that, it only goes to display how far away from God we were.  But, of course, God had a plan of redemption and salvation.  He sent His one and only Son to pay the price for our unrighteousness so that He Himself would be our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). Jesus brought us back into relationship with the Father.  You could say that He brought us back home where we belong.  And you would naturally think after
that kind of display of love that in our gratitude, we would never sin again.  Yet, as you already know, we do sin.  It actually reminds me of a parable that Jesus taught.  You probably know it.  We call it the parable of the prodigal son. 
 
Once upon a time, there was a wealthy man who had two sons.  One son decided that he wanted to go out and see the world, so he asked for his inheritance from his father, packed up and left.  Not too long after this, this particular son had squandered everything he was given.  He had nothing left to his name.  In desperation, he thought that maybe he could go back, be a slave to his father, and at least fend off starvation.  When he was still pretty far from home, the father spotted him from a distance and took off running until he encountered his son with an embrace.  Even though the son began to ask for servanthood, this particular dad was having none of that.  He gave him new clothes, he threw a feast to celebrate his return, and he welcomed him home with open arms.
 
There’s a little more to this parable in regards to the reaction of the older brother, but that’s not what I want to look at today.  I want you to stop and take notice of the reaction of the father.  There was not a shed of hesitation in him to welcome his son back.  We even read that while the son was a long way off, the father spotted him.  What does that tell us?  I think it says that the father was looking for his son.  He hadn’t given up and was hoping that they would be reunited.  I also notice that there is a complete disregard for the son’s desire to be a slave.  Slavery wasn’t in the heart of the father.  Instead, the abundant overflow of everything inside the father was forgiveness and sonship.  All that was required was a returned child to bestow those things upon.  It’s not a stretch at all to say that coming home again was not a landslide win for the son, but a victory of joy for the father as well.
 
That’s the thing about sin and what Jesus did for us.  With arms wide open and nail-pierced hands, He made an eternal way for us to run back to God by His blood.  And now we no longer have to worry about what the Father is going to say.  The sin has already been paid for.  The response of God is always the same: “I love you and I desire for you to return to Me.”  So what I want for you today is simply this: I want you to take some time to search your heart.   Honestly give it some thought.  And if find sin in your life, honestly and truly repent to God.  Run back to Him and submit your heart fully. There’s no such thing as a partial repentance, so lay everything at HIs feet.  We have to give everything or give nothing.  That’s the choice.  But He’s so gracious and willing to forgive that I think the option isn’t that difficult.  When you have a Father who cares enough to be waiting in expectation for your return, It’s worth coming home again. 
 

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