I Love You for You
Luke 15:11-24
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
Jesus came into our broken world to provide a way to get the prodigals back home. He wanted to purge the rebellion from our hearts so we would not only come home, but also enjoy bring home, so we would rejoice in the privilege of being part of the family we had abandoned. Jesus paid the price for our return and our healing.
As the years have passed, a conviction has deepened in my soul that Jesus wants to do far more for us than most of us imagine. So often we think in quite selfish terms about what Christ came to do. Yet in fact Christ died to do more for human beings than we have ever dreamed. If we do not dream a little bigger, we are never going to experience the deeper reality of his presence.
The reality is that Christ came to do more than just keep us out of hell. He wants to develop a personal relationship with each human being for whom he died. He died to save me not just from my sins, but also from myself.
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isa. 53:6).
Self-interest is the ultimate definition of sin, and the Cross holds the power to set each person free from self-interest.
A French Catholic priest in the court of King Louis the XIV one day said, “Oh, God, isn’t there anybody left anywhere that loves you just for who you are? Can’t you find one such person? And if you can’t find one, couldn’t you make one?”
That is why Jesus went to the Cross; to bring me to the place where I love him simply because of who he is and not because of what he can do for me.
The ending of the story of the Prodigal Son would have been terribly disappointing if the son had merely returned for more of his inheritance without an interest in his father. Once the father saw his son coming home, the relationship between father and son became the thing of paramount importance, and the reader forgets that the son ever needed anything except his father.
This is an excerpt from the book This Day with the Master by Dennis Kinlaw If you would like to buy this book please click here.