Never too Far

Our last blog post left off by explaining the definition of purity and how we can purify ourselves. As a reminder, purified means “having had contaminants removed; cleansed.” I then explained how you can only become pure through the forgiveness that can only be achieved through Jesus. This sounds so simple when you put it that way. However, some of us struggle to let go of the times in the past when we were not pure and wonder if we can truly be forgiven if we can’t even forgive ourselves. Others may think that they have so many imperfections and flaws that they cannot truly become pure and forgiven. If this is you, I am happy to say that I have some great news for you! You are NEVER too far from God’s reach. 

Have you ever heard the story of the Prodigal Son? I am sure many of you have; however, I am going to explain it briefly here because I feel like it shows the love of the Father so well.

The scripture for this story can be found in Luke 15:11-32. I encourage you to read through this as I am only going to give a brief overview of the story to help you see that you can never drift too far from the love and forgiveness of God. So, the story goes a little something like this:

There was a man who had two sons. He decided to divide his property among them. When they each got their share, they then took it upon themselves to choose what to do with their share. Let’s just say these two brothers were as different as night and day when it comes to how they handled themselves and their share of their father’s fortune. The youngest son took his share and traveled living a reckless and sinful life. Meanwhile, his older brother stayed and served his father never disobeying him. Of course, the youngest son eventually ran out of money which led him to near starvation. He looked back on his life and remembered his father. He decides to go back and explain to his father what he had done and ask to be treated as one of his hired servants. When he got back home his father ran and kissed him, put him in a nice robe, and threw him a party/feast. The youngest son was surprised because he knew he had done wrong and had not expected his father to embrace him this way. His father was just glad he was alive and home. The oldest son was not too happy about this. In fact, he was pretty jealous, so jealous that he refused to go to the party. His father questioned why he was not coming in to celebrate. The oldest son says to his father that he has served him for many years and never disobeyed him and he has never thrown him a party. The father replies, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is now alive. He was lost and now is found.  

There are so many great points that we can take away from this passage, so I really encourage you to study it further. I am going to focus on three main points: 

1. Love is limitless: The love of a father is without bounds or limitations. There is nothing that you can do that will cause your father to stop loving you. He may disapprove of your actions or ways; however, when you finally decide to come home, he will be so glad and will welcome you with open arms. In fact, all he wants you to do is come home. It is when you come home that you will learn to be deserving again. We are not perfect, but it is not until we come to know God and our true home that we can start to try and walk in the newness of life. No matter how far you have wandered from home, the Lord’s love, He would still love to welcome you back so much that He will not only just forgive you he will celebrate and rejoice when you arrive.  

Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound   

2. There will be self-doubt: Since we are in the flesh, we struggle with the act of forgiveness much more than our heavenly father does. This is not just limited to the forgiveness of others who may have wronged us in the past it also includes forgiveness of ourselves. We often hold ourselves to unrealistic standards and are very hard on ourselves when we do not live up to our expectations. Since we struggle with forgiving ourselves, we assume that God struggles to forgive us as well. We see ourselves as undeserving of his love and grace. We must try our best to forgive ourselves the way God has forgiven us and walk in the newness of life. Do not hold your past against yourself. Instead, use it as a lesson for yourself as well as others. Let your past serve as a lesson but don’t let it get in the way of your blessings.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

3. Others will doubt that you have changed as well: As we talked about before, as humans, we struggle with the concept of forgiveness. We see someone’s Snapchat story on Saturday night out dancing at the club or witnessed them doing something sinful. Then on Sunday morning, we watch them fall onto the altar and give their life to the Lord. Instead of saying I am so happy for you! Welcome home! We have a tendency to doubt that they are truly interested in changing. We think to ourselves how hypocritical it is for them to get up there after what we saw from them last night. If not this exact circumstance, I think we have all done something similar. In fact, we may have even said our thoughts out loud to others around us. I have heard so many examples throughout my lifetime and I am guilty of doing it myself. We have to change our mindset. Instead of judging those around you, encourage them to start walking in the right direction. Don’t belittle them for not always following the correct path. Instead, help them understand the roadmap of life, the Bible. Never take it upon yourself to investigate their journey and look for flaws. Instead, look at your own journey and use it as a testimony for them to relate to as we are all not perfect. For those concerned about others’ opinions of your journey, remind yourself that their opinion of you will not get you where you need to be. Focus on your journey and walking with the Lord. Once they see you walking in the newness of life, they will begin to change their perspective of you.

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing