It has been so encouraging and reassuring to see God’s provision for myself and my roommates so far. We have been living on our own, after graduating college for nearly 3 weeks now, and I have seen God providing for us almost daily. Matthew has been blessed with two jobs at Sears and Pac Sun, Blong has been growing a ton as he has been preparing to send out the missions teams, John has been blessed with an amazing job working with mentally handicapped adults, we have been given tons of free stuff to make living more comfortable (couches, mattresses, dishes, utensils, food, etc.), and I have been blessed with an opportunity to work with abused and potentially assaultive teens in a group home setting as a counselor. I basically have the job, I just have to pass a few things, which I’m not to worried about, and then I start training. With all of these kinds of things happening, it is hard to look at our lives without noticing how God has had his hand over our lives the past 3 weeks. For instance, we found an apartment complex with one two-bedroom apartment open, and we applied for it and made a down payment and moved in, all within one week. That is INSANE!
I also had the chance to lead worship at The Well this week, playing worship music with a bunch of people I almost never play with. It is just amazing to me how God has made people so talented that we can gather together, some of us having never met, and glorify God together so creatively and passionately. It is hard to say that there is no God when we can come together like that and lead people in worship of their Creator with so little effort.
It was also great to hear the message from David Nishizaki today. I grew up looking up to David as he was a leader in our youth ministry, but not really knowing him. Now that he and I are both up in Redding, I have had the privilege to lead worship with him a few times. He did a great job of preaching today as he brought some new insight into the story of the Prodigal/Lost Son. He was basically saying that we have mis-named the character in the story that was really Prodigal. Prodigal means to be wreckless, extravagant, even wasteful. He did agree that the younger son was exactly that, but even more, the Father was more Prodigal than his son. He said that the Father’s actions seemed almost inappropriate because of the way his son had treated him. The son basically told the Father that he wished he were dead when he asked for his share of the inheritance, yet the Father gave it to him anyways. The Father then runs towards his son (when a rich or highly esteemed Jewish man was running, he was losing his dignity) awkwardly (he’s running in sandals and a robe) and throws himself upon his son and forgives him, and then lavishes gifts upon him and celebrates his return. This son did not deserve this and wished only to work as a servant. The Father even goes so far as to offer the same party to the older brother who is jealous and spites his younger brother’s return. David said that these actions seem inappropriate to him, and they do to me as well. What Father in their right mind would forgive their son of wishing death upon him, taking his money and spoiling it on evil things, by lavishing gifts upon him and celebrating his return? It seems totally inappropriate. However, the only reason why it seems inappropriate is because we have experienced imperfect love from imperfect examples of a father. To us, the Father’s actions seem inappropriate, but they are driven, in fact, by true love. It is only the perfect and true love that drives the Father to do these prodigal acts. Instead of spending his money, he spends himself and his dignity to love his sons.
Our Father in heaven is exactly like this. When we fall into sin and come back to him, he forgives us and lavishly pours out his love on us. He offers us gifts of love and of grace and of righteousness, even when we spit in his face. This is such a great love that is almost inexplainable and hard to understand. We can turn our backs on God a million times, and he will still be there, waiting for us to run back into his arms. It is hard to grapple with how much grace and forgiveness God has for us, or even why he loves us so much. The thing is, most of the time, we try to earn this love from him. Our reaction is like the lost son. We want to serve him and DO things to try to earn this love, but God doesn’t care about those things. He would love us even if we didn’t do those things. This is the grace that He has for us. That we can accept His free gift of love, and love Him back. We do not love in order to be loved, but because He has already loved us, and given His life for us. It is through this abiding in love that the life of Christ flows and fruit is abundant. Life is fully lived the way that it was supposed to: free from the power of sin and enslavement, and in the power of love and grace, glorifying God.
This is the life that I desire. I desire that the love that I have received from God would flow out of me and I would be able to see fruit. That I would walk in love and power. That I would walk not under the law, but under grace, free from the power of sin. That through me, many people would experience the life that Christ has called them to and that they would experience it abundantly. That I would be an example of Christ to all that I encounter. That Christ’s love would flow through me. Sometimes, this life seems so far off, but I know that God has me in His hands and that He is still shaping me and molding me into the man He wants me to be.
Isn’t it great to know that you are a beloved son/daughter of the King, and He has you and your whole world in His hands?
