January 15th, 21

It’s Time to Come Home

Genesis 37 - 38, Psalm 7, and Luke 15

It’s time to come home.  The younger brother decides that it’s time to come home.  He’s lived life on his own terms and it’s left him bankrupt.  When he does come home, he’s greeted with a kiss, a ring, a coat, a party, and the fatted calf.  He not only has found his Father but he’s found the richness of his father’s heart and the things his heart truly desires.

The older brother needs to come home, too.  But we don’t find him there.  Well, he’s kind of there.  He’s out working in the field, earning slaving, trying to achieve his place at the home.  But he fails to see that Home has been there all along.  He comes in from the field, distraught, angry and beside himself.  This brother that forsook home has been embraced.  He’s found it somehow.  But the older brother, there all along, is refusing to step into the home.  He won’t come inside. 

'All these years I've slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. (Lk 15:29 NLT)

The Father’s response tells us everything:

His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.’ (Lk 15:31 NLT)

This home has always been yours.  My heart has always been yours.  The riches I have, have always been for you, as a gift.  You haven’t had to earn them or perform for them. All you had to do was receive them. And if you had, you would know my heart - it delights in a son once dead but now alive, once lost but now at home.

Step into the house.  Partake in the party that your good Father always has available.  The rich resources of his Presence and his Life are offered to anyone willing to see it as a gift.  It’s all Him.  His blessing doesn’t come by the sweat of your brow, but in resting in what He has done for you.  

Let’s go Home.

You are loved!