Pastor Steve’s sermon this past weekend may have left some of us “elder brother” types feeling a bit exposed. Yet, perhaps it is good for us to confront those tendencies that many of us have: the anger and feeling of superiority, along with works-righteousness and the idea that life is seen as a duty rather than as something beautiful to be experienced. How do we change? How do we remove the scales from our own eyes?
The words that touched me the most this week were the words Jesus shares with us through the father who says to his elder son, “My son, my child, you have always been with me.” Jesus is basically saying to you and to me, “Come home, I’m waiting for you.” Whether we are the elder brother types or younger brother types, it doesn’t matter; we are all in the same boat and that boat’s name is “LOST.” In fact, the boat called LOST has a big hole on the bottom that duct tape won’t plug, and it is sinking fast!
Every one of us is indeed alienated from the Father and only through Jesus’ death on the cross can our hope be found and the hole in our boat be plugged for good. The Son of God had to die so that we could be found and saved. Only through God’s grace we are saved.
Recognizing our own “lostness” is not only the first step toward “shedding” our elder brother tendency, but also the first step toward finding our way “home.” The journey to our “true” home is one to which only Jesus can lead us. And, once we realize that we are “sons” of the Living God, we need to claim our status and not only come home but run towards “home.” Run like you’ve never run before! Jesus is waiting for all of the “lost” to come home – that includes you and me!
Perhaps when we look in the mirror now we might say instead, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, Jesus loves ME, after all.”
Listen to this touching song called “Mirror” by BarlowGirl. This song talks about how we can see a new reflection of who we are when we start to see our reflection through the eyes of the God who made us. Listen now>>
Pax,
Pastor Carol
No comments:
Post a Comment