Come on Home

“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight”’...And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.” Luke 15:17-18, 20

A basic definition of sin is anything we do in an independent spirit - with no regard for God. When we exhibit an independent streak, we give evidence to the rebellion of our heart toward the authority, the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That is sin.

One of the evidences of spiritual maturity is a life which is dependent upon God.

Are there signposts along life’s way to indicate a warning to us when we have strayed from God’s pathway? I not only have His Word as “a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), but I have His Spirit within me to convict me of sin and to approve when I do right.

When we stray from God’s intended pathway for us, we’ll begin to notice that it takes us in a steady downward direction - never up. We’ll notice too that we have departed from the familiar pathway. We’ll know we are in a strange land, going a strange way.

Disappointment is the unavoidable companion to departure. It does not take long for it to turn into despair - a place where hope is a faint, fleeting promise.

The power of God is revealed in that no matter where one may be, they are never to far from the restoring hands of the loving Heavenly Father. Come on home.