By David ReayMonday 29 May 2017LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Luke 15:18-20
18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. (NLT)
When we think of the word ‘repentance’, it might conjure up notions of misery and gloom and shame. It is true that repentance involves a change of heart and mind and which leads to a change of action. That change usually involves not doing or thinking something that we have formerly done or thought. So repentance involves saying ‘no’ to certain things.
But it also involves a ‘yes’ to something else. The prodigal son decided to say ‘no’ to his pigsty living and as a result said ‘yes’ to homecoming. In general terms we turn aside from sin and turn towards grace and mercy. We leave behind an old life in order to embrace a new life.
We can’t embrace forgiveness till we recognise our need of it. If we have our backs turned to the only offer of help there is, then we can’t take hold of that offer of help. The prodigal son could only receive his father’s mercy by heading back home. So repentance is not some pleasure-denying, grim act of martyr-like self-denial. It is the way we get back home. And it is not something we do just once, but something we do each and every day of our life.
We need to embark on repeated homecomings because we repeatedly leave home.
Blessings
David Reay