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.
Fantastic message!!! It is amazing to think we are part of God’s family and that when we accept Christ as our Savior our last name changed just like a bride changes her last name when she marries. Our last name becomes Christian—follower of Christ. Thank you for the reminder that nothing can separate us from God’s love and that if we do stray away from the family all we have to do is confess our sins and He is waiting for us with outstretched arms. God is love and we are loved by Him. Great message!!!
ReplyDeleteDear Desiree,
ReplyDeleteAs always, I am moved to tears by your words; in fact, I'm overwhelmed! That's how the love of God is, it's OVERWHELMING. We can never fathom nor plumb its depth. What a joy to be able to sink into it and allow it to wash over us completely.
Thank you for sharing what God the Father has overwhelming given you by His Spirit and through His Son, Jesus.