He Always Welcomes Us Home

Psalm 103:8
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”

How well do you know Jesus? I am guessing you know He’s a “good guy” and Christians know Him to be their Savior. But what do you really know about Him and His day-to-day happenings during His 33 years of life? Reading about Him is the closest we can get to heaven while we’re here on earth. Reading about Him brings us peace and gives our life the certainty that it often lacks.

As I say nearly every week, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John prove to be one of the very best ways for a new or even skeptical believer to get to know Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh, the only perfect human to have ever walked the earth—perfectly God and perfectly man all at once. All of the red letters in the Gospels demonstrate the true nature and character of God through His Son and His Spirit. When you know Jesus, you know the love for which you were created.

Jesus often taught about God’s love through parables. Luke 15 reveals the parable of the lost son. To summarize, there was a man with two sons. The older son stayed with his father and the younger wanted his inheritance now. The reluctant father gave it to him and off the son went, spending all the money, leaving him homeless and hungry during a severe famine. He went and found work, thinking it would lead to food and shelter—but it didn’t. He came to his senses and decided to return home to his father and say to him: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you” (v. 18).

Let’s pause. In the world today, when someone turns their back on us and then comes back groveling, how often do we show grace? More often, we puff up our chests and passively suggest, “Nobody will treat me that way and get away with it.”

But what did the parable reveal? “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.” Did you see that coming?

Oh, friend. It gets even better. After the son apologizes and the father welcomes him with open arms, “the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found’” (vv. 22–24).

You see, we are the lost son. Every time we sin, we are turning our backs on our Father in heaven. We are essentially saying, “We don’t need You.” And how does He respond? By welcoming us home again and again and again. His grace pursues us and restores us into communion with Him. And He doesn’t just welcome us back without harsh criticism or punishment—He clothes us in His “best robe” and puts a ring on our finger as heirs of an eternal kingdom.

Yes, friend. This is our God, your God. This is the very character of your Creator—One who doesn’t condemn, but saves. No guilt. No shame. Just grace.

Thought Question: How can you incorporate getting to know Jesus in your daily life this week?

Prayer: My Father, draw me near and teach me through Your Word. Life is busy, and too often I put everything else before You. Please forgive me. Help me to see Your true character and grace, and empower me to extend that same grace to others. Amen.