Never Clueless

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.—1 Peter 2:9 

“I’m surprised you didn’t find the crest,” said high school student Mariah, referencing the pendant necklace borrowed from my colleague for the after-school murder mystery.

“What crest?  Where was it?” cried the students who had just completed the clue-finding circuit.

As leader of the campus ministry, Mariah had orchestrated every last detail of the outreach event and recalled where she had placed it. “In the garbage can in the ladies restroom.”

“The only thing we found in the garbage can was the journal.”

I knew that was true, for I was the one who had RE-placed it there, having rescued it earlier from the custodian’s trash hopper.

A quick check in the restroom confirmed our fears.  The crest was gone.

A necklace represented a crest in our game. But according to Archives.com, “a crest is a symbol worn atop a helmet used to identify a soldier bearing arms.  Crests can be associated with surnames and are quite distinctive for each particular family. Finding your family crest opens the door to finding out where you came from and what your family stood for. It’s your chance to show the world your family’s origins.”

The students set out for another hunt—for the trash hopper—hoping it had not already made its way to the ominous dumpster, where it might as well be lost forever.

Soon Mariah was rummaging through rubbish heaped high in the hopper.  She shoved her hand into the dark recesses of the garbage and retrieved a burgundy velveteen sack. Waiting with bated breath, we watched her open the drawstring bag.  Then she pulled forth the pendant, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

So the party began. We feasted on cookies and Cheetos and Rice Krispie pumpkin treats.  And then, expecting the usual biblically-based message to follow, I said half-jokingly, “Now what, a message on The Lost Coin?”

What I realized later is that her message on love was linked more to The Lost Son, which many refer to as The Prodigal Son. The adjective prodigal means spending money in a reckless and wasteful manner.  The bible says that the son asked his father for his share of his inheritance and then “moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living” (Luke 15:13).  When his money ran out and he began to starve, he found himself on a garbage heap with pigs.  Longing to eat the pig’s pods, he finally came to his senses and remembered where he came from—a loving father whose hired servants had more than enough food.  He set out for home and his father saw him as he crested the horizon. Filled with love and compassion, the father ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him (vs. 20).  His son confessed, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.” (vs. 21).

“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.  And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.”—Luke 15:22-24

Now, that’s the epitome of love—unconditional love.  That’s the epitome of God, for God is love (1 John 4:8).  No matter where we may wander, no matter what we may do or however we waste our life, we can always find our way back to Him.  Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).  He is our loving Father, and He waits for us to come to our senses—to realize our sin and humble ourselves right back into His outreached arms.

Sometimes we may feel like a castaway, like refuse on a garbage heap, forever lost—placed there by dire circumstances or as the destination of our own choices.  But let us remember where we came from and find our way back home, for there are clues all along the way.

“Finding the origins of your family… can be an incredibly exciting and rewarding process, and taking the time to locate your family crest can also provide a considerable amount of insight regarding the wars waged and the battles won by your family.”—Archives.com

Let us confess our sin and make our way back to our family, for it will be an incredibly exciting and rewarding—eternally rewarding—process.  The battle for our salvation was won at the cross.  The gift is just waiting for us to open it, like pulling a pendant from a drawstring sack.  When we open the gift, we open the door to an eternal reward.

When the prodigal son returned home, his father threw a party and lavished him with gifts, one of which was a ring, a symbol of authority and the father’s eternal affection. When we return home, he throws a party for us (Luke 15:10) and places the family crest upon us. Wearing the crest is our chance to show the world our family’s origins.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your love.  Thank You for loving me enough to send Your Son—my Brother—to go to battle for me.  And thank You for orchestrating every last detail of my life so I might find my way back to You and Your loving family.  May I wear the crest well so I can show others Your goodness that they might understand the mystery of your love (Ephesians 3:19) and find their way back home as well. Amen.