In the Embrace of Abba— Part I.

Jesus’ Parable in Luke 15 is not a story which separates the two brothers into good on one hand and evil on the other.  The father alone is good, is righteous, is true.  And the most beautiful thing about him is he loves both sons the same.  His love toward either of them never wavers.  He runs to meet them both, at totally different times but with the same tenderness and desire for something deeper relationally.  You see the point?  Ours is a God who seeks out and searches for sinners, who pursues us to the end of ourselves.  He wants us, just like the faithful father of both brothers, to sit down with Him and feast at the Banquet Table of His Grace, to share in His joy and luxuriate in His provision.

Yet the contrast between the brothers stands— as it does between many of us who claim the name of Christ— the younger brother longs for and allows himself to be held in the embrace of a forgiving father.  The older brother will not.  He will not move beyond his anger and self-pity; he will not take a single step toward love and let his father heal him.  I wonder how many of us find ourselves in this dark and lonely place, day after miserable day, but will not do a thing about it.  We will not take a stand against our own misery and unhappiness, because we will not pursue the holiness of intimacy with our Abba.

The Father’s love is passionate and pursuing, it is powerful and perfect, but it will not force itself into the life of the beloved.  We must choose to respond to Abba’s initiation.  We must decide for ourselves whether to accept it or reject it.  God longs to heal us of all the darkness which resides in the sub-strata of our souls, but we are still free to stay there or step into the Light of His love.  This much we know.  Abba’s love is always there, always ready to give and forgive, independent of our response.  His love doesn’t depend on our remorse or repentance, on any change— either internal or external— we might make.  God’s love is as unchanging as it is unending.  So, whether you are the younger son or the older son, the reckless rounder or the self-righteous scoundrel, God’s only desire is to have you Home.  If that’s not the perfect image of fatherhood ...then none exists.

In his book The Heart of George MacDonald {1824-1905} the author writes,

In my own childhood and boyhood my father was the refuge from all the ills of life, even sharp pain itself.  Therefore I say to son or daughter who has no pleasure in the name Father, ‘You must interpret the word by all that you have missed in life.  All that human tenderness can give or desire in the nearness and readiness of love, all and infinitely more must be true of the perfect Father— of the maker of fatherhood.  {Italics mine.}

“My son,’ the Father said,” in Luke 15:31, “‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’”  These are the words you must believe in, words you must allow to penetrate to the centre of your soul, to the deepest regions of your heart.  Whether you’re the younger brother or the older, God calls you His “Son,” His “Daughter.”  And this is your Eternal Identity— Abba’s Child.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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