4/3/2019 11:49:07 AM
Room for Celebration
In God's house, there is always room.
God has opened his arms of love to welcome everyone, even those who don’t want it and those who don’t deserve it. In Jesus' day, the Pharisees sneered at the tax collectors and "sinners" whom they thought weren't good enough for Jesus. They did not realize the love they were missing out on. The tax collectors and sinners were blessed by the presence of Jesus and his saving message.
God’s love for us is boundless. He will never turn us away.
But, we can certainly reject it. We can abuse it. We can waste it. Yet God waits for us to come to our senses that we would realize what good things he wants to give to us.
Sometimes we are our stubbon in accepting that God’s grace is free or it is nothing to us. We try to attach something that would give credit to us. So, when we look down on others for not being good enough for our church, or good enough for our group, or good enough parents, or good enough church goers then we have become like those Pharisees who thought good behavior had put them into God's good graces.
We're also sometimes sloppy in handling God’s grace and we're often selfish with it. We think we can strike out on our own, we can neglect the love of God, that we can always say we’re sorry later. And God allows us to wander. He does not shut us into the church and lock us in there. He lets us go and then he waits, hopes, plans, for our return.
And when we do...When we hear the news that our sins have been forgiven, when someone else apologizes to us, when we hear someone say that we are forgiven, it’s time to celebrate that.
"'Bring the fattended calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate." Luke 15:23-34