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This week we are continuing our study of Luke Chapter 15. Please read verses 11 to 24 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 15:20 (NIV)
‘So he got up and went to his father. “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 around him and kissed him.’
I love New Years’ Eve. I don’t like the parties or the social aspects to it, but I love spending time with my church family and together put God first as we close the chapter of one year and look forward to the next. I love being with my Christian brothers and sisters celebrating the faithfulness of God and revelling in His grace in our lives. For me, there is no better place to be.
Even though I love that part of the festivities, there is one aspect that I really don’t like. For the first few days after New Year, everyone is obsessed with making resolutions. They say things like ‘This year, I’m going to lose 4 stone in weight’. Another common one is ‘I’m going to stop smoking’. ‘I’m going to exercise every day’ is one of my personal favourites. Most of the resolutions have one thing in common: They don’t last. Some don’t even make it until the end of the first day! We all have the best of intentions but very few of us have the determination to do what we intended.
In just a few words of our text today, we see something quite special. ‘So he got up and went to his father’. Yesterday we read of his slide into complete degradation and poverty. We saw him hungry, poor and working with pigs. Then we read of his decision to go home. In a similar way to New Year’s Resolutions, he also resolved to do something. His situation prompted him to decide a better course of action. He had made up his mind to go home. Unlike so many though, he did exactly what he resolved to do.
Can you imagine for a few moments what may have been going through his mind? I dare say that walking away from the pigs was relatively easy. However, he knew that he had done wrong and that not only had he made a mistake, but this time, he’d seriously messed up. His heart was full of repentance though and this was manifested in the walk back home. Despite him making the correct decision, I’m sure that the longer he walked, the battle in his mind would have raged more powerfully. I don’t think any of us like admitting making mistakes and he had made them in abundance. He was a mess physically and was a broken man because of his sin. He recognised that he was worthy of nothing from his father and was ashamed of what he had done. How many of us would have had the courage to keep walking? He had upset his father, there could be no doubt of that, and perhaps he couldn’t be sure of how he would be received. He was going to ask to be one of the servants, but perhaps he didn’t even know if that was going to be accepted. It could be that he would be rejected after making the journey. He just didn’t know for sure and yet he still kept walking.
Sometimes, we make mistakes and we think that God is upset with us. We may even feel that He wants nothing to do with us. Let me assure you that if our hearts are full of repentance, He will ALWAYS run to meet us. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy that says that you won’t be accepted. Keep walking toward your Heavenly Father. You’re meant to be with Him ‘at home’.
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