The Message
A parent's worst nightmare is to lose a child. It's unfathomable. To have a child, the saying goes, is to decide to spend the rest of one's life with your heart outside of your body. This Father, at the depth of his despair, is given his child back. They were all, as it says, beside themselves with joy. The understatement of the century! What could they have possibly said, possibly done, that would express their gratitude?
It's the position we're all in -- we've been given back our own life, our own future. How can we express our gratitude, our own joy, at what we have been given? It's impossible.
Let's not forget the other side of the equation. God knit us together in our mother's wombs. God knows us intimately, as a mother hen knows her chicks. God is a parent to us, and so think of the inexpressible joy God has at restoring us to himself! God is, of course, beside himself with joy (which is funny to me when I think of the Trinity and maybe God could actually be beside himself, but that's neither here nor there)!
I'd imagine we're all a little guilty of forgetting the level of joy we bring to God. It's easier to feel guilty about not doing enough to express our gratitude. I, like many others, can do a better job of that.
But what if we spent more time imagining the joy of God at the knowledge that God's children have been restored? That kind of joy is what led God to pay the ultimate price on Calvary. That kind of joy made Christ willing to stay on the cross when suffering and pain and despair were piled on Christ's shoulders. God knew the reward, and knew we could never pay it, and so rather than see his children lost due to sin, God paid the price to restore us to life.
God delights in you. No matter what. Like a mother delights in her child, God delights in you. And God cries tears of joy at the thought of your restoration in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thanks be to God
No comments:
Post a Comment