“Return to Me,” declares the LORD of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.
(Zechariah 1:3)
Zechariah’s words remind me of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The father ran to greet his son once he saw the son walking home. The father had never changed – he was home and available for reconciliation, but the son had left and needed to show signs of repentance to trigger that process.
We can’t expect our lives to be right with God without opening a doorway for that reconciliation. After all, He has shown abundantly His willingness for a relationship. The sacrifices He and Jesus have made to open a door for us are extreme. There can be no doubt that our Father wants us… but do we want Him?
A restoration of a relationship requires two parties or it is not a relationship. Involuntary reconciliation is submission by force, not familial love. God cannot make us love Him and still call it love. We must return to Him in order for it to actually work.
But remember this, just like the prodigal son – when the father sees us coming home, even from “a long way off” (Luke 15:20), our Father feels compassion for us. We must begin to make changes to follow Him and clean up our life, but we need not worry that He requires us to be perfect on day one of our return. Our faith must be shown in our works, but we need not be worry that imperfect works will cause Him to reject us.
New Testament Christians recognize the Bible pattern as a roadmap for a return to the Father. We teach and practice the simple, New Testament pattern for the church, for salvation through belief and baptism, and through obedient faith because that is the pattern that can be found in His map… the map that returns us to Him that He may return to us.
Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites