His Child

"And the LORD said to me, 'Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the North and say,
'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the Lord;
'I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am gracious,' declares the Lord;
'I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowlege your inquity,
That you have transgressed against the LORD your God
And have scattered your
favors to the strangers under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,' declares the LORD;
'For I am a master to you...'
'Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowlege and understanding."
(Jeremiah 3:11-15)

I recently started reading through Jeremiah and this is an excerpt from the chapter I was going through today. Very much something I needed to hear at a time in my life where I feel my relationship with the Lord is lacking and I feel so broken before Him, yet struggling to allow Him to pick up the pieces, still holding on to that which I 'value'. Not to say that I value these things more than the Lord, but more often than not I find myself placing everything else above Him. This is something I have found myself in reflection upon over this past week - my weaknesses and inadequacies, my unworthiness of Him, my need for Him, my lack of striving for more of Him, and above all His grace. His Grace seems to be something that I have been ever-so mindful of this week. His grace that is not dependent upon what we have done for Him, how we have measured up to His standards, how faithful we have been - its not about any of these things...He knows we are weak, He knows we are faithfless and self-centered and unrighteous - rather it is ALL about what God HAS done for us - not what He will do...He has already done it! His grace lavished upon us through Christ's death on the cross. When we turn away from Him, He does not look away and leave us behind. He does not give up on us - thank goodness that He does not give up on us. HE DOES NOT EVER STOP LOVING US! This is the reality of His Grace - He loves us as much as one can possibly love.

I love the anologous story of His grace in Philip Yancey's, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" about a rebellious girl who runs away from home and finds herself caught up in a life lived in sexual immorality and drugs to be enjoyed for the first while until she ends up broke, destitute, frightened and alone. A few years have passed since she ran away and she finds herself in a place of longing to return. She tries calling home a few times, only to get the answering machine - she leaves a message saying when her bus will be getting in, if they care to come get her, otherwise she will continue on. She gets on the bus, unsure of whether or not they will come. Will they take her back? The bus arrives. "She walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect. Not one of the thousand scenes that have played out in her mind prepare her for what she sees. There, in the concrete-walls-and-plastic-chairs bus terminal in Traverse City, Michigan, stands a group of forty brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandomrther and great-grandmother to boot. They're all wearing goofy party hats and blowing noise-makers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a computer-generated banner that reads 'Welcome Home!' Out of the crowd of well-wishers breaks her dad. She stares out through the tears quivering in her eyes like hot mercury and begins a memorized speech, "Dad, I'm sorry. I know..." He interrupts her. "Hush, child. We've got no time for that. No time for apologies. You'll be late for the party. A banquet's waiting for you at home."

How much greater is God's excitement when we come back to Him after a period of neglect?! - far greater than that of our earthly Fathers. I cannot even begin to imagine it. As much as we choose not to recognize it and fail to act accordingly, the fact that we ARE His children will never cease to remain a part of our identity.