A welcome like no other

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 So he got up and returned to his father. The father looked off in the distance and saw the young man returning. He felt compassion for his son and ran out to him, enfolded him in an embrace, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)

I was struck with a thought this morning about the father. The father never gave up on his son, though there was little sign that he had any intention of being 'made right' again. The father never gave up watching, though the road was long. The father never lost the intensity of love for his wayward son. I wondered for just a moment if God the Father was looking with such intensity of love for his Son's return to heaven's realm - if he stood, arms outstretched, heart filled with love, and took Jesus into his embrace. All that Jesus had endured, all he had experienced, not because of his own folly, but because there was absolutely no other way for US to know that same embrace unless he did!

We all experience the folly of sin because we are all sinners. Good deeds don't make us any less of a sinner. Kindness in our hearts doesn't buy us a 'passing grade' into eternity. Only the finished work of Christ - the 'non-prodigal son' could bring the freedom for all of us 'prodigals' to enjoy the open embrace of God's intense love. An embrace speaks volumes, as it suggests one being 'pressed to the chest' - the place of the heart. Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf made it possible for us to be 'accepted willingly' into the embrace of our holy and righteous God. No embrace will matter more than his - no 'welcome home' will ever be any sweeter than his. 

The prodigal had no idea what he 'gave up' when he decided to 'do things his own way'. He had no knowledge of just how bad things could get when one chose to embrace compromise after compromise in his life. Somehow, I think the father did and he knew how important it was for him to wait, watch, and be prepared with the warmest of welcomes the prodigal son could ever experience. We may never know how long God waits, watches, and keeps the welcoming embrace open for some of us, but we can trust that he does! Just sayin!

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