Going Home


Scripture

I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.”

~Luke 15:18, NLT

Quote

Luke 15 and the story we know as the prodigal son but it is not primarily about the prodigal, it is about the entire human race. The Father in this story is our Heavenly Father and the gospel is that he loves the world, the moral and the immoral; the rebellious and the religious; tax collectors, prostitutes but the most amazing thing about the story is that he loves the pretension, the hypocritical, the ungrateful and the vain. In other words there is hope for the world in this story. Today I want to put the emphasis on home. Thank goodness the young prodigal came to his sense and changed his mind about sin, independence from his father, work and HOME. What a fortunate young man, he did have a home and a waiting father. The prodigal moved to the far country expecting a better life; wow, did he get disappointed. One lady talked her husband in to visiting her old place some year after her parents died. She took one look at the seedy run down house and told her husband, “Take me out of here, I never want to see the house again.” Sometimes, returning the the old home place can be a gut wrenching experience.

One of the major problems is the sense of loss we fill when we see the house that was once filled with the love of mother and father. All my readers are adults so I am going to tell you the truth, life is a series of giving up things. It usually starts with grandparents and then parent but eventually, you will give up other things and they are not all bad. Health and energy are good thing but time takes it’s told. Because we humans live in time, we feel a sense of lost every time something or someone we love dies or is taken from us. The prodigal didn’t have any desire to return home until he suffered great loss: money, friends, shelter, food, purpose, and joy just to mention a few. God lives in the eternal present, He has no history and cannot suffer loss. Our past reminds us constantly of the things we have lost.

Home is a powerful concept; we have a deep longing for a place where we really fit in; a place where there is no doubt, no death, no disappoint and no disease. I heard a Christmas song yesterday that I never heard, A CHRISTMAS LETTER; the first verse goes like this…


I want peace on earth for Christmas
In a world where there’s not one hungry child
Where hope and faith would
Conquers fear and hate.

The good news is there is a festive happy ending: I’m sure glad Jesus didn’t leave out the party. When we get home, we are going to blown away by the Father’s extravagant love.

All God’s children get weary when they are wrong; don’t make you want to go home. Big Mama is predicting rain, I hope we get our service without any problem. I had a great day and then right before dark, it sat in again. I thought I was progressing but now I am not sure. I do covet your prayers.

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