Chosen Grace

Jesus spoke in many parables during His ministry here on earth. He would use modern, everyday things that his disciples and the people around Him could understand.

He used things they knew, whether that be a tax collector, flower, mustard seed, or fig tree- He was going to get his point across.

He did this many times throughout scripture. An example of this can be found in Luke 15. In this chapter, he used three different scenarios to describe one thing.

Now, I won’t break down each verse in this chapter of Luke, but I do encourage you to read it in it’s entirety. It’s some good stuff in there!

I will say, however, that the main point of each of these scenarios in Luke 15 is this: No matter how many times you’ve backslid, you can come back home to Him.

Yep. That’s it. Jesus wanted the people back then and us right now to know that our Father rejoices when his children come back home. Let’s take a look at one scenario Jesus used: The Prodigal Son (Luke 11-32).

This story is familiar, right? And if it isn’t here’s a recap: A son demands his wealth, the father gives it to him. The son spends everything. He realizes that he’s messed up. He decides to go back home. His father embraces him and loves on him freely.

What I love about this story is verses 14-20, which are below. Let’s check them out:

“14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” -ESV

These verses are powerful. We are sometimes like the Prodigal Son: we decide that we want our way. So, we take our freewill that’s been given to us and do our own thing- without God. And without God, we will fail.

Trust me, I know. To be honest with you all- I’ve found myself being the Prodigal Son a lot of times during my walk with God. I’ll decide that what I want is so much better than what God has prepared for me.

And each time I do that, I fall flat on my face. Like the Prodigal Son above, I find myself in a mess: covered in mud and longing to be clean.

And I think like the Prodigal Son and myself, some of you reading this have had your fair share of failures and setbacks. It’s not pretty. It’s definitely not a good feeling.

But I want to encourage you all that even when you fall- you can get back up. And when you get back up, our Heavenly Father has compassion on us. He sees us while we are yet in our mess, and decides to love us.

Our Father doesn’t condemn us when we fall- instead he convicts us and fills us with his grace. He embraces us warmly like the father did to the Prodigal son.

That’s what I love about God. Every time I’ve fallen and gotten dirty, God gently cleanses me and restores me in his grace and mercy.

I want all of you reading this to know that no matter when or how you’ve fallen- get back up!

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again,”

-Proverbs 24:16a

I love this verse, because it lets me know that no matter how many times I’ve fallen- I can always get back up. And the same it true for you.

God doesn’t care if you just messed up once. He doesn’t care if you’ve messed up several times after saying you weren’t. He doesn’t care if you’ve fallen into temptation.

All He cares about is that you get back up again. Get up! When you get up, trust that His everlasting grace and mercy will cover you. He will restore you to what you thought you lost.

To end this blog post, I just want to reiterate that our Father rejoices when we come home. Just come home, friends.

The Good Shepherd is awaiting. He misses you.

Come back home.

With love and a new love for coming back home,

Malaysia