THE PRODIGAL GOD

by Steve

When I preached at Friendship UMC 2 weeks ago, I took with me what I think is my best sermon.  Ben Loftis asked me, “how do you know it’s your best?”  which is a very good question.  I think what makes “The Prodigal God” my best sermon is that if I had one last sermon to preach, that  would be it.  In it, I share with listeners the most important thing I have ever learned in life.  Profound, yet very simple:  God loves me.  To me, there is no more amazing, life-changing truth in the world.  God loves ME… and that love is totally not dependent upon anything I do or don’t do. 

It is a love more determined to hold on to me than I am to escape it.  It is a love more committed to me than I will ever be to it.  It is a love that will follow me to places I should be ashamed to take it.  It is a love that in no way depends upon my worthiness of it, or even my return of it, for there is nothing I can ever do, nothing I can ever become, nowhere I can ever go that will make God love me less.  God loves me, and you, perfectly, and nothing can ever change that. 

In the words of Paul Tillich, when we finally “accept that we are accepted,” everything changes.  We realize that it is by God’s grace, and grace alone, that we live, move, and have our being.  When I came to the place where I finally believed that, I felt as if a monstrous burden had been lifted from my shoulders.  Thank God, it doesn’t depend on me.  Free at last!  Free at last.  Great God Almighty, free at last!

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday

3 Responses to “THE PRODIGAL GOD”

  1. Berry, on February 17th, 2008 at 8:43 am Said:

    This is so much a ‘statement of fact’, it hardly requires comment. My only reservation is in it’s scope – that some will read “accept that we are accepted” as the *only* necessary act to being a “good Christian”. Certainly, God’s love for us endures all, but it’s when we reflect that love to all we come in contact with that we begin to understand what Jesus was teaching.

    Bj

  2. Zack, on February 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm Said:

    It’s always good to be reminded of that. It’s the most profound truth of Christianity, but it’s so easy to forget. Thanks.

  3. Debra, on February 17th, 2008 at 7:49 pm Said:

    Thanks Steve… Imagine a world if we all finally accepted that ALL others are accepted, too! Thy Kingdom come – Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven would be a reality!!

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