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Reading through the Gospel of Luke right now in my morning devotionals. Luke 15 this AM. I knew it was coming & still the tears streamed. I would give anything to rewrite my story. I am so scarred from poor decisions in my past. Some of their consequences have nearly killed me.->
I’ve had a heart for Jesus as long as I can remember. Even in childhood He mesmerized me. By 9, I was in Christ & He, in me. At 18, I surrendered to my calling. Every stupid thing I’ve ever done, I did saved & called. Took years for the cycle to break. Regret has been crushing.->
But this Jesus. Oh, but this Jesus. This Jesus that I was taught loved the little children turned out to love mind bogglingly foolish & depraved full-grown sinners, too. This Jesus never let me go. Never changed His mind about me. Never quit telling me He loved me. Never gave up.
He’d woo me into the pages of Scripture virtually every day, even in my worst sin. There He’d show me glimpses of Himself, glimpses of myself, who I’d been but also who I could be. He got down to the root of my self-destruction. And slowly but surely, taught me to walk steadier.
I’ll start wrapping this up. As I read Luke 15 & tears flowed like spring rain, I said to Him over & over “This is my Christ. This one who told these very stories to the Pharisees & scribes who disapproved of the company He keeps. This is my Christ. The one I live & breathe for.”
“And THIS is my Father. The one who was so glad I came home after my deepest most life-wrecking descent into sin that He threw a party for me.” I think all of us who have a heart for God yet grossly sin fear in our repentance that we’ll only be tolerated from that point forward.
Instead, He turns up the music & throws a barbecue. There’s this line in Psalm 51 I didn’t understand until I was healing up from the worst of my disasters. I can still recite it. (KJV) David cried “make me to hear joy & gladness that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice.”
Whose joy & gladness was David talking about? GOD’S. “I need to know You’re glad I’m home! That I’m not just near Your skin but forever exiled from Your heart!” And there in that heap between sobs, perhaps that’s when the prodigal heard the tapping of his Father’s feet.
Dancing
Dancing
