Last month when I was at the prison talking with two of the men we read out of Psalm 147 and when we got to verse 11 they stopped and asked "why do we have to fear God? How can God be love if we fear Him?"
So I began to show them the heart of God full of forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love. So I told them the story of the prodigal son:
A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. He ran to his son,
Wright, one of the boys in the bible study, interjected and asked, "To beat him?"
my heart sank into my shoes. What sort of model is he basing his idea of God from? Had he ever had one person in his life truly love him? Was his only lens for fathers that of discipline, distance, and anger? I quickly responded no Wright and finished the story.
filled with love and compassion, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
It reminded me of the time I was in Lifeway reading the Max Lucado books. If only my brothers knew who You really are Jesus. How You really feel towards them. I can't imagine the life that Wright has lived leading up to where he is now and I hardly have any right to speak to them about forgiveness and turning the other cheek in a situation where showing weakness leads to broken jaws and bones. But I trust in Your word and I know Your way is the only way to bring the Kingdom.
Abba this world is so broken, I ask that You'd shine Your light in the darkness we have created.
So I began to show them the heart of God full of forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love. So I told them the story of the prodigal son:
A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. He ran to his son,
Wright, one of the boys in the bible study, interjected and asked, "To beat him?"
my heart sank into my shoes. What sort of model is he basing his idea of God from? Had he ever had one person in his life truly love him? Was his only lens for fathers that of discipline, distance, and anger? I quickly responded no Wright and finished the story.
filled with love and compassion, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
It reminded me of the time I was in Lifeway reading the Max Lucado books. If only my brothers knew who You really are Jesus. How You really feel towards them. I can't imagine the life that Wright has lived leading up to where he is now and I hardly have any right to speak to them about forgiveness and turning the other cheek in a situation where showing weakness leads to broken jaws and bones. But I trust in Your word and I know Your way is the only way to bring the Kingdom.
Abba this world is so broken, I ask that You'd shine Your light in the darkness we have created.