Begin with 2 minutes of stillness and silence before God.
Let’s begin today’s devo with a question. When you messed up as a child or teenager, did you hide it from your parents, or did you immediately run to them for help? If we’re being honest, I think a lot of us probably didn’t feel safe to go to our parents to seek their aid and forgiveness when we made mistakes. And, if we’re being even more honest, we didn’t come to our parents with our mistake because we were afraid of being met with shame and condemnation.
Can I tell you today that our Heavenly Father is not like our earthly parents? We see that in today's passage of scripture where Jesus shares the parable of The Prodigal Son. Luke 15:11-32 paints such a beautiful picture of the relationship that God intends for us to have with him. When we turn away from Him or become distracted by the things of this world, He doesn’t write us off and leave us to figure it out on our own.
When we realize that we can’t do this life on our own and decide to run back to the Father, we find that He is running to meet us. He isn’t ashamed of our brokenness. He isn’t reluctant to forgive us. He doesn’t make us come back on our own.
When we come back, we are met with an inheritance that is so much greater than worldly riches and pleasures. The inheritance we have when we repent of our sins and surrender to the Lord is His presence in our lives. The inheritance is a relationship with the Father.
Run back to Him, friends. Don’t wait another minute to throw off shame, bitterness, and sin. Just run to the One who won’t stop running toward you.
Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.
Reflection:
- Take some time to listen to ‘To You’ by Maverick City Music.
- Is there something holding you back from running to the Lord?
- Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for being a loving and forgiving Father. Give men the strength to run to You and away from all the sin in my life. Thank you for always being there to meet me when I come back to You. I love and trust You. In Jesus’ name, amen.