Although I didn't just get up and run away from home, I have tried to run from God. But no matter how far I run, his arms are always open, waiting for me to come back home.
Even if I'm not intentionally running away from God, if I'm not running towards him, I'm still slipping away. I do that a lot. I decide to follow God's ways, but I follow them on my own terms instead of his.
But whenever I get off track, I always have God to come back home to.
There's a parable in Scripture of the prodigal son. The son takes his inheritance from his father, and decides to leave home and spend it however he wants. But when it was all said and done and he had nothing left, the only thing he could do was return home and hope his father would at least hire him as a servant. But the father did more than that. The father threw a huge celebration feast to welcome home his lost son.
When we stray from God's way, He's waiting and ready to throw a celebration for when we return. Without any exceptions, God always welcomes the lost back into his home.
I find that a lot of people know in their hearts that God always has a place for them. However, they decide not to return to God because of the guilt and shame holding them back. They stay away, fearing that maybe God doesn't want them to come back.
That is so far from wrong.
You and I are the lost son.
No matter how far away we get, there will be open arms and a celebration when God sees us in the distance deciding to come back to Him.
We can't get away from God. We could run and try to hide, but He's always going to be around and show up somewhere. So save yourself the trouble, and stop hiding because of guilt and shame. Don't keep running away. God wants you to come back home. If you're lost, God has a welcome home feast waiting for you. It's time to go home. When you finally get home, the fear, guilt, and shame will all slip away when God picks you back up in His arms.
"God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home." -Henri Nouwen
Thank you Soooo much for this, Brooklyn! I really needed to read this as I am often unintentionally (and horrible as it is, sometimes intentionally) running away from God. This has been a great encouragement to me though, so thank you for writing!!!
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