A Devotional | Love of The Father
“…Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” -Luke 15:23b-24 (NIV)
Sitting in the conference room, I thought I was the one who had most things right in our marriage. It was seven years into our marriage, and my husband and I had been separated for almost a year when we finally agreed to go to a marriage workshop. We found ourselves surrounded by people who were trying to get better just like we were. We were not the only ones with issues.
During one of the presentations, I was stopped dead in my tracks as the speaker shared a picture of a Rembrandt painting featuring the prodigal son. It was so beautiful to see the father in the story. He was so joyful, generous and gracious to his son! The son squandered his portion of the inheritance and ended up eating with pigs, but he pushed past the shame of his poor choices and in humility was able to face his father. The father welcomed him with open arms. The son accepted the forgiveness of his father and embraced a new beginning.
But, as the speaker pointed out, the older brother in the story looked down on his brother. He felt that he had done everything right and believed his brother did not deserve the celebration. His crossed arms showed that he was bound by his anger. His obedience and actions did not make his father love him more than his disobedient brother because the love of the father was not dependent on the actions of either son.
The speaker said, “You are either one brother or the other.” You are either humble and repenting before the Lord, or you are standing tall in pride with your arms crossed. It was then that I realized, even though I was hurt and felt justified in my anger, I was unable to move forward because I was still holding onto judgment. It completely opened my eyes to things in my heart that God wanted to address.
The beautiful lesson I learned that day was that the more we are receptive to the amazing love of God that covers our own sin, the more we can give love and compassion to those around us. The less we pick and choose who is deserving, the more we will walk the way that Jesus taught us to. As it says in 1 John 4:19 (NLT), “We love each other because He loved us first.”
There is nothing we have done or ever could do that could change the way God loves us. We are loved as we are. As my husband and I both began to work on our own parts of the pattern, we came together with more humility as we both were in desperate need of the love and forgiveness of God. The blaming subsided and true healing began. We attended a year of therapy and, as we began to heal internally, we were able to reunite and heal our marriage together.
As a counselor I know it is somewhat rare for there to be lengthy separations that end back in a committed marriage. I also know there are many healthy reasons to not continue a marriage. But, thankfully in our case and only by God’s grace, we have now been married another eight years since the separation and are getting ready to celebrate 15 years of marriage. Each day is a choice to continue the healing and recovery process, humble ourselves and love Him and one another as He calls us to.
Dear God,
Thank you for the way you love me and forgive me I pray that I can lived loved each day and show your love to the ones you have placed in my path. Thank you for your perfect love that casts out all fear. Thank you for the healing that is possible in you! In Jesus name, Amen.
Further Reading: Luke 15:6-9, John 3:16, Mark 12:30-31