God went against,and still goes against,what we see as just: you sow well, you reap well. God, our loving father, desires to show us mercy whether we heap insults on him knowingly or do so out of ignorance.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
— Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
In today’s message, Casey Coats hit on a point that I’ve never thought about concerning the parable of the prodigal son. Seeing his son off in the distance, returning home, the father ran to embrace him, shifting the shame onto himself. The father didn’t only heap grace onto his son for the shame he brought to the family, but he transferred the shame to himself! Wow. This is love, and how wonderful to know that the son did nothing to earn that sort of an unrelenting pursuit from his father.
Whether we think we’re the modern-day prodigal son or not, we all are that son at some point. We all were born into sin and have to choose to humble ourselves and come home. Our heavenly Father awaits our return into his loving arms, and heaven surely will throw a party when we cross from death to life. Let today be your day to come home if you’re still out trying to do it on your own. It doesn’t matter if you’re so far away that you’ve lost sight of home altogether. Just call out his name, and he’ll come running to you. Or if you’re still riding the fence, trying to decide which way you want to fall, just choose to fall into the arms of your father. We all need God’s love, through Jesus, to wipe away our sins. Don’t wait. The embrace is worth it!