Personally, I can’t wait to experience the joy of Heaven. I can’t wait to witness the raucous celebration that comes from the Almighty God of the universe, along with his innumerable angelic realm, every time a sinner repents and runs to their loving Father’s embrace. Since the time of Jesus, there truly is nothing more celebration-worthy on Earth than when someone who is lost comes home.
So why are we often so afraid to come home? It’s a far too common misconception that God will be ashamed of us or even won’t want us back. After all, it’s still true that our sin is a bigger deal than we think. Think of the people you think are so deep in sin that they’re beyond all hope. The sad truth is that they often think the same about themselves. This is one of many wrong ways that we all tend to think about God. But we forget that his overflowing, even self-sacrificial love for us is greater still. Sin is a bigger deal than we think, but grace is greater than we could imagine.
None of us are ever beyond the reach of God’s grace. Much like the prodigal son in Jesus’ famous parable, we all inevitably come to realize how self-destructive our own sin is, and how blatantly rebellious it is toward our Father who loves us—these are the sins that we often repress because we know they’ll otherwise tear us apart with shame—and God loves us abundantly anyway. There is no depth that God can’t reach, no amount of brokenness that God can’t redeem. Even when we are the most lost and the most dead, our Father is eagerly waiting to say, “My child was dead and is alive again, and was lost and has been found.”
But what about the older brother in the parable? What about the one who was offended that someone so rebellious would be shown so much grace? And are we ever that older brother? Let’s not forget that the same grace that God shows to us is available to every other sinner as well. Let’s not forget how radical that grace already is, in that he forgave and redeemed even me! Think again about those you see as the worst of sinners. Not even they are beyond hope. The Lord celebrates when even those children of his come home. We should celebrate too.
