How do you imagine God? Is He a scrooge counting every penny, recording every infraction? Is He distant and oblivious, an old man who’s hard of hearing?
How do you imagine God?
In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus tells us about a Father who loves and gives. His younger son is greedy and rebellious, and the Father loves and gives. The younger son leaves and squanders a fortune, and the Father loves and gives. The younger son realizes his sin and returns home, and the Father is looking down the road for him, the Father runs down the road to him, the Father throws a celebration for him. The Father loves and gives. And even though the older brother is jealous and distant in his own way, the Father insists that all that He has is for his kids.
God is no stoic deity in the sky. God is not a philosopher’s whim. God is not a miserly grump that you must some how please. God is not a red-faced tyrant flying off the handle, demanding, insisting, blustering, blasting his subjects for every hair out of place.
God is our Father, and He is always looking down the road for you, and when He sees you, He isn’t preparing lectures, speeches, punishments, He comes running down the road to you. He is not dignified with His love. If God is sloppy with anything, it’s His grace, it’s His goodness, His love.
So do not hold back. Do not pretend that you have it all together. Do not imagine that you are good enough to be here. And do not imagine that Lord of this place is counting pennies. The Lord of this place only counts faces because He loves every single one.
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