Sunday January 29, 2023

The Path That Leads Home

The people of Judah had become quite prosperous…and complacent. Taking God for granted, they had turned to self-centeredness, idolatry, and sin. Joel warned them that this kind of lifestyle would inevitably bring down God’s judgment. There was time to turn back to mercy and grace. They were only four steps away from God. (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of prosperous)

It seems that no matter how hard we strive and seek after God, there are moments when we find ourselves straying from the intimate fellowship with our Lord. We may not wander far, like the Jews in Joel’s day, but we still sense that we are on a path that leads away from God. It may be a path of sin or one of self-reliance. It may even be a road of destruction.

But there is a path that leads home to the Father. It is in these moments that God calls us to return. He draws us with a love so strong and beautiful. Now the word return means, “To turn with repentance, return to the starting point, come back home, return upon a path already traversed.” How beautiful is that? God draws us home…to start fresh and new. How do we begin this great journey? By starting with this path: conviction, repentance, restoration, and fellowship.

Conviction. The word “convict” is a translation of the Greek word “elencho,” which means “to convince someone of the truth; to reprove; to accuse, refute, or cross-examine a witness.” To be convicted is to experience an utter dreadfulness of sin. To be convicted is to feel the sheer loathsomeness of sin. The Holy Spirit exposes evil, reproves evildoers, and convinces people that they need a Savior.

And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. (Jn.16:8 NKJV)

Repentance. Properly understood, repentance means a change of mind; a change of the intention from wanting to sin to not wanting to sin that results in a change in action. It involves the decision to make a change of behavior and/or attitude about something. Biblically, repentance means to turn from sin with a heartfelt desire to change and not do it again. We Christians often fail in our war with our sin (Rom.7:19). Sometimes, because of our fallen nature and weakness, we often fail to completely carry out our repentance. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, we are able to turn to Him yet again and receive the cleansing that is guaranteed through Christ.

I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. (Is.44:22 NKJV)

Restoration. To restore our broken fellowship with Him, God sent Jesus to reconcile us back to Him (2 Cor.5:18). Jesus knew we needed help in living according to God’s commands. He sent us the Holy Spirit to indwell us and help us do God’s will. We need the Spirit of God every day to help us live a righteous life.

Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. (Zech.1:3)

Fellowship. Fellowship is the most important thing God wants from us. He wants us to come to know Him…to be with Him…to spend time with Him. Jesus set an example for us when He slowed the pace of His life to spend time with the Father. He knew the importance of quiet moments. He often went into the mountains to pray. The more mature we become in our relationship with God, the more important this quiet time with God becomes. We look forward to being alone with Him.

Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. (Jer.24:7)

God longs for us to return to Him. Let this simple truth find a place in you today: He wants us on the path that always leads us home…to Him. Amen, and amen.

< Back to all posts

Related Scripture

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.

— Joel 2:12-13 NKJV

Word Wisdom

prosperous

Hebrew "chashur" (kah-shar) Strong’s #3787

To be right, successful, proper, correct; to be correctly aligned with certain requirements. "Chashar" occurs only three times in the Old Testament: in Ecclesiastes 10:10, “bring success,” Ecclesiastes 11:6, and in Esther 8:5, where the queen presents her request on condition that it “seem right” to the king. "Chashur" thus describes whatever is right, fitting, and proper; furthermore, something will prosper and be successful simply because of its “rightness.” Its post-biblical derivative “kosher” means that food is properly prepared according to Jewish dietary laws derived from Scripture and rabbinic specifications.

So...

When the prodigal son finally struck bottom, finally found himself among the swine, and even envied them their diet of corn husks, what would it have profited him to soliloquize thus: “Swine, as ye are now, so I was once; but long ago, eons upon eons ago, I passed through the swine stage. Now I have arrived at manhood. Yet I trace my origin back to you and to the beasts from whom you descended. All that is in me—of mind, of thought, of purpose, of hope, despair, and remorse—came ultimately from you, and through you from other beasts before you. In your dull brain are the rudiments of my own brain; in your hideous form are the outlines of my own form and body; and in your dull, stupid, brutish gaze I see as in a mirror all the elements of my own personality.” Would that have helped the prodigal? Would that have lifted him out of the mire—to have reflected on his kinship with the beast, how far he had ascended from them, and how far he had come back to them? No. The thing that brought the stab of poignant pain and shame to the prodigal’s heart was the thought of how far he had wandered. When he remembered his father’s love, his father’s hopes for him, and contrasted his rags and filth and shame with what his life had been in his father’s house, then it was that he came to himself, to his true, divine, immortal self, and said: “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19).