Friday 7 Dec 2018

December 7: Luke 15:17-24

Key Verse: Luke 15:20
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.

Devotion:
Jesus used parables to tell the stories people needed to know – He did so to make sure the content would reach into people’s hearts as they were able to relate to the story and work out what applies to themselves; look beyond the obvious! Yes, we see the need for righteous thinking from the son’s side, the need for forward planning too, and we also see the love the father has for his sons and the son’s repentance after he realises what he has done wrong. But Christ’s true teaching comes when we start to compare this with how God looks at us; to make it personal!

God is our heavenly Father who is constantly looking out for us and loves us. He is the one who has given us the opportunities and He is the one who has given us the inheritance too. We are like to the sons and we are the ones who have the choice as to how we deal with our inheritance. We have been given the gift already because Jesus has already paid for our sin debt on the cross. We now have the choice as to whether we want to accept that gift and its true wealth or squander it through wrong living. The son in the parable certainly cause a riot when he went off and wasted the gift on just about everything that he could – something we tend to do when we do not know the true wealth of Christ’s gift to us.

When we begin to understand just how much of a wonderful gift Christ has given to us through paying for our sin debt, we then begin to see just how much we have done wrong in our lives and why He had to go and do that in the first place. Imagine knowing you have to live your whole life just so you can pay for someone else’s life... That is exactly what Christ did for us. Jesus is waiting patiently for us to come back and admit to our sins and ask forgiveness; but also to turn away from them. When we do, He will be faithful and loving like the father in the parable and come to us wherever we are because then He will know we are sincere about our lives with Him.

Points to Ponder:
Are you surprised by how much people do forgive when you apologise?

Are you confessing your sins?