“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)
Scripture not only insists that God has love, but that His very nature IS love. His love is not Hallmark card love, but gritty and messy, without the beautiful background music movies have taught us to expect. It is love that meets us where we are and suffers with us. The Bible is insistent on this as a present reality, and Jesus made it especially clear through the parable of the prodigal son- The father running to embrace his prodigal son, who had taken and squandered his inheritance, forgiving the unforgivable, giving him a ring, robe and sandals, fully restoring him to his position of heir! If we truly grasp what Jesus was saying in this story- about us - it will transform our lives, for he is talking about each of us. In the cross, we are completely forgiven and fully restored to our position, he imparts on us his very righteousness. We are given an inheritance we all know we do not deserve and could not earn. It almost seems shocking. But God did not play a game of “let’s pretend”. He saw our sin but through the cross, he fully restored us to our inheritance so that we could live in the safety of His love- and bring our requests to him with confidence. Anyone who believes in Jesus becomes an heir and has access to God just as Annie had access as an adopted orphan to everything Daddy Warbucks owned. God made us heirs when the veil was broken to the Holy of Holies on the day that Jesus died. By His sacrifice, we have unbroken access to the father. The promises of the Bible are ours if we pray to them, use them, rely on them. As Tyler Staton writes “God is like that father - that good and that forgiving. That’s what life with God is like, an unearned homecoming celebration that never ends.”
Prayer Prompt: Dear Lord, though it is hard to grasp that I am fully forgiven, you said “It is finished” 2000 years ago with me in mind. And when I believed, you made me your child and your heir. Though I know I do not deserve it, I accept it and rest gratefully in your inheritance and I kneel and pray in faith, bringing my requests to my beloved father.
Song of the Day: Reckless Love - Cory Asbury
