A Heart Of Forgiveness

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. – Luke 15:20

Yesterday, we looked at the story of the prodigal son and saw what we could learn about the heart of God from that story. We learned that even when we rebel against God, He still loves us. Today, I want us to look at another thing we can learn about the heart of God from this famous parable.

The second thing that is true of God’s heart is that the Father looks for us until we return to Him. The son had turned his back on his father, but the father had never turned his back on his son. This son who had strutted out the front door smelling like a rose now was slinking up the road stinking like a pig. Long before he saw his father, his father saw him. But what’s important for us to note is that this scene would have just crushed the ones listening to this story.

You see, in ancient Hebrew culture, it was considered completely undignified for an older man to run. To run, you had to take off all of your outer garments and strip down basically to your undergarments. But that dad didn’t care what anybody thought. He wanted the whole world to know that his love for his son was unconditional. There are two arms that will always be open to him and those are the arms of his dad. This is what makes this story even more amazing because it shows us what happens when a sinning son meets a forgiving father: love flows like a river and joy explodes like a firecracker.

This parable is such a beautiful picture of how God the Father treats everybody who decides to come home no matter how far they have wandered off. I don’t know where you are in your life right now, and you may think you’ve gone so far away you can never come home. Let me just tell you, the Father looks at you with eyes that forgive you. He speaks to you with the heart of forgiveness, runs to you with the feet of forgiveness, embraces you with the arms of forgiveness, and kisses you with the lips of forgiveness.

Dear Lord, thank you that you are a God of unconditional love and forgiveness. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins, no matter how many times I fall short. Help me to accept that forgiveness and to live in the freedom that comes with it. In Jesus' name, amen.