I don’t care what you have done, I just want you to come home!

The title of this post is a quote from a testimony I heard last night, and was spoken by an estranged husband to his wife. In the way of these things, both parties had messed up big time. I hear in this statement, an echo of the Fathers plea to us. I hear him saying to us “I don’t care what you have done, I just want you to come home.” The point is no matter what we have done, it’s all covered by the blood, the sacrifice of Jesus paid for it all!

In the aftermath of the reconciliation that followed the husbands forgiveness and invitation, the whole family came to the Lord. But not only this, the whole family entered into recovery, dealing with the garbage and the issues and the generational dysfunction that, at some level, plagues us all.

I never cease to wonder at the depth of Mercy of our God, and of the depth of his Grace, the grace not only that He gives us in in terms of His forgiveness of what we have done, but also the depth of the grace that He gives us to love and forgive others when we totally submit to Him. Though it clearly takes two, I am firmly convinced that there is no difference so great, no sin so devastating, no addiction so deep that, if we are willing to come together to the foot of the cross, cannot be covered by his Mercy and Grace.

Sometime ago I blogged on the title “We no longer regard anyone according to the flesh.” This morning as I write, the Lord is fulfilling his promise to me, that He is working in me great grace. And he is working in me in both of the above aspects of His grace. In particular He is reminding me how far He has brought me, and the mercy and grace He showed me as I wrestled with my own baggage and addictions. But He is also showing me his tender heart for others who like me, have utterly failed. When I am walking in His Grace I cannot but help extending His Grace to others, and indeed I then no longer see them according to my flesh!

Father, truly your Mercy is great, truly your Grace is amazing. Thank you Father this morning for what You have worked in me in Mercy and the wherewithal to climb out of the hole that I had dug for myself. Thank You also Lord for the heart of compassion that You continue to give me for those who were where I was at! In Jesus Name Amen