The Grace of My Father

Scripture:
"Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'" Luke 15:2

Observation:
This is an amazing chapter. It is one of my favorites. More than any other place in the Bible it reveals to me the heart God has for those who don't know Him and for those who have turned their back on Him. He ate with sinners. He relaxed with the poor and needy. He created a ministry which literally changed the course of history and he did it with a group of outcasts, roughnecks, and sinners.

Application:
Anyone who knows me knows that I did not log very many miles walking the straight and narrow for many seasons of my life. Looking back I often wonder why I did some of the things that I did. In my heart, I always knew better. In the quiet moments of those seasons I was often tormented by the path that I was on and the man I was becoming. Still, the allure of the things I desired captivated my attention and I charged after them. As I read through the words penned by Luke describing Jesus, I begin to see a tapestry of His grace rise up in the background.

In each paragraph I see an amazing thing; it is God who does the pursuing. He seeks the dinner invitation with the sinners. He leaves the other sheep and goes searching for the lost one. He lights the lamp and searches the house for the coin. He runs out the meet the rebellious son and it is He who goes out to calm the heart of the bitter son.

The God of the universe pursues me. Even when I am an idiot and it is my choices that draw me away He chases after me. More amazingly, He celebrates when He finds me. He does not remind me of where I have been. He does not call out everything I have done. He does not deliberate to decide if I will be accepted. He simply celebrates.

Prayer:
There are memories in my mind that torment me. There are places I have been, things I have done and people I have hurt that stir images in my mind I can't handle. Of all the things I fear in life, nothing scares me more than the man I know I can become when I walk away from Your direction in my life.

Your Grace is amazing. Your love never fails. Your heart is always bent towards me. As I reflect back over my life I realize that I have never once found You to be unwilling to accept me back as long as I came to You in true repentance. It gives me great comfort to know that all of my past is gone, forgiven, thrown out, and will never return. As far as the East is from the West is how far Your word says my failures have been removed.

Each day is a new day and I now find myself in a much better place in life. That said, I also live with the reality that I have not arrived anywhere. Daily I have to choose to take up my cross and follow after You. That is never a simple choice.

Life is hard and temptations are easy to find. I ask today that You continue to reveal Yourself to me. Open the eyes of my heart so that I can see Your face, hear Your voice and know Your will.