Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

MONDAY APRIL 20


A FATHER WHO RUNS

READ:
Luke 19:10
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The Son of Man has
come to seek and
to save that which
was lost.
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Every day a father craned his neck to look toward the distant road, waiting for his son's return. And every night he went to bed disappointed. But one day, a speck appeared. A lonesome silhouette stood against the crimson sky. Could that be my son? the father wondered. Then he caught sight of the familiar saunter. Yes, that has to be my son!

And so while the son was "still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him" (LUKE 15:20). It is remarkable that the family patriarch did something that was considered undignified in Middle eastern culture__he ran to meet his son. The father was full of unbridled joy at his son's return.

The son didn't deserve such a reception. When he had asked his father for his share of the inheritance and left home, it was as if he had wished his father dead. But despite all that the son had done to his father, he was still his son (v.24).

This parable reminds me that I'm accepted by God because of His grace, not because of my merits. It assures me that I'll never sink so deep that God's grace can't reach me. Our heavenly Father is waiting to run to us with open arms.
__Poh Fang Chia

**Father, I'm so grateful for all Your Son did for me at the cross. I'm thankful for
grace. I offer You a heart that desires to be like Jesus__merciful and gracious.___________________________
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We deserve punishment and get forgiveness; we deserve God's wrath and
get God's love. Philip Yancey

***************************Today's Bible Reading __ Luke 15:11-24****************************
11 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. 12 And the
younger of them said to his father, 'Father give me the
portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them
his livelihood.

13 "And...the younger son gathered all together, journeyed
to a far country, and there wasted his possessions.... 14 But
when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that
land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his
fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his
stomach with the pods that the swine ate....

17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my
father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I
perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will
say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before
you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make
me like one of your hired servants." '

20 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against
heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worth to be
called your son.'

22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best
robe.... 23 and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us
eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again;
he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The parables of Luke 15 deal with recovering
what was lost. In verses 3-7 the search is for a lost sheep; in verses
8-10, a lost coin; in verses 11-24, a lost son. Each time the emphasis
is on the sense of urgency of the one who is searching.