My next couple of posts will detail things I have learned since I became a Christian; or, “How The Obvious Became Clear To Me After I Got Rid Of The Cobwebs.”
Let me tell you a story that I keep thinking about all the time:
When I was attending our local community college several years ago, I was in an American History class I believe, and our instructor was talking to us during the first day of class. I have no idea how he got on the subject, but he was talking about religion.
He told us that he once attended church, etc., but he eventually came to the realization that it was ridiculous to think that someone could lead a horrible life, i.e. killing someone, or stealing, or selling drugs, and then five minutes before he or she died that person could just tell God “I’m sorry” and everything would be forgiven. He laughed. How absurd that thought was. Being a new Christian at the time, I just kind of sat there and contemplated what I had heard. Why is this guy talking about this stuff in a history class; and why don’t I know what to say to teach this guy why he’s wrong?
Well, now I know. I know if you really understand how the family works, it helps you understand much of what goes on in the world.
Here’s what I would say to this instructor if I could talk to him now:
Do you have any children? If so, do you love them? Of course you do. Well, let’s say that at the age of, maybe 15, your son or daughter – we’ll go with son for the sake of keeping things simple – ran away from home. You tried to get him to come back. Maybe you even called him on his phone a couple of times, but he would not return. In fact, when you tried to talk to him, he pushed you away; he cursed you, yelled at you and swore he would never have anything to do with you again.
You were devastated, but you didn’t want to give up on your child. You tried to keep tabs on him as he grew into adulthood. You found out he abused drugs, cheated on his wife, abused her and the kids. He finally left them and committed all kinds of heinous crimes. Maybe he even committed murder. So he goes to jail, is convicted and sentenced to death.
You hear about this, and ask to attend the execution. After all, you haven’t seen your son in years, and you would just like to get one more glance before he dies. So there you are at the execution, and fifteen minutes before your son is scheduled to die, he calls for you. You don’t hesitate: you’ve been trying to talk to your son for years. You go to him. He turns to you. He looks you in the eye and says, “I’m sorry I did what I did. I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you for so long. I’m sorry I lived this wicked life.” You look in his eyes and you know he means it. You can see that he really is sorry for what he has done.
What do you do? Do you reject him? As a parent, do you turn your back on your son? No. You reach over and give him the biggest hug you have even given a person. You love on him the best you can in the time you have together. You take him back, no questions asked.
Is he still executed? Yes, probably. The laws of society and government must be observed and followed. There are consequences for our actions. But that’s not the point here. The point is when you are given a chance to renew your relationship or reject your son, a loving parent will not hesitate to bring his son or daughter back into his life. Well guess what: God’s love is a thousand times greater than the love of a human parent. This is what God does: He waits, He longs, He accepts, without hesitation. Because He loves us and wants a relationship with us. We all are sinners, and have done terrible things. But if we turn to God – even in the last moment – he will not reject us.
I know this for a fact. Although I was never sentenced to be executed, I ran away from God as fast as I could for a long time, about 25 years. I cursed God, rejected God and swore I’d never go back to God. But when I decided I needed God, I turned toward Him and He was right there, waiting for me. He had been chasing me the whole time. Amazing.
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