"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like on of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Luke 15:17-20
We struggle to understand this love of the Father. Our conditioning is such that we seem Him through the experiences and words of our earthly fathers. Some people grew up not even knowing their father. When I speak to them concerning the fact that God is their Heavenly Father they can only envision an "absent" being who has no involvement in their lives. This is only one example of trying to understand God from our experiences and the perspective of life in this world.
Jesus says that if we have seen Him, then we have seen the Father. The Word of God is here for us to read about, hear from and see the person of Jesus Christ and thereby read about, hear about and see our Eternal Father. He is ever present in our lives and when He appears absent or far away it is because we have moved. In the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32) quoted above, we see this principle clearly. The person described had taken all his possessions and left the relationship that had been established between himself and his father. He (or she) decided one day to venture out into the world and live according to his own agenda. Life and all it could provide was his goal. He enjoyed the pleasures of his own will and passing desires but in time they ran out. In the end he had squandered all that his father and the world could offer him.
The men and women we meet here in our shelters are just like the son in the parable. Listening to the world through friends, co-workers and family members, they struck out into the world on advice and wisdom that was not of God. Along the way they involved themselves in activities, professions and relationships that drained them of all their material possessions. For some, addiction replaced their balance between healthy and destructive behavior. For others, the lust of the flesh, the love of money and the love of self drove them into relationships that quickly emptied them of self-respect. As the months and years passed, they lost more and more of their identity to people who quickly moved in and out of their lives stealing away their hope and a future.
Today, the love of God is growing in their hearts and minds. Through the compassion and love of our staff the clients God has brought to us are learning about their Heavenly Father. They are learning that God's love for them is evident in the Cross of Jesus Christ. His forgiveness of their past is what brings healing into their hearts and new hope for their future. New relationships, new work opportunities, new educational goals are all the instruments God will use to bring them out of the darkness of their past into the light of a new future. Even before they knew Him, God was preparing their way into a place we know as Jericho Road. Here they would begin to read about, hear from and see for themselves Our Father's Love.
