The love of God is so complete that He doesn’t just stamp us forgiven, pull us out of the pit, and then leave us on the side of the road to figure out what to do next. The American judicial system is flawed in this way. Guilty prisoners receiving pardon are released from jail, the pit, and then expected to figure out life on the outside on their own. Instead, God’s love is active toward us pardoned, released sinners, illustrated so perfectly by Jesus’ story of the prodigal son.
Exhausted, spent, and empty by the years living in sin, Jesus tells us the prodigal walked home alone, hoping for forgiveness and even a scrap of food from his father’s table. Beyond his wildest imagination, this young man—who represents you and me—is welcomed with a shocking enthusiasm. The word crowned means surrounded, encircled, bestowed; so we see the son enveloped in a beautiful robe and then restored as son with a ring on his finger, identifying him as MINE. The prodigal, crowned with lovingkindness and compassion, is a picture of how God sees us, His beloved who return to Him in humility.
I hope you and perhaps your family, too, have made this month a focus on thankfulness and gratitude. But God desires for us to notice and not forget His goodness for much longer than one month. The frenzied pace of Christmas has already begun. Are you forgetting already to be thankful?
“God satisfies your YEARS with good things,” reminds me that God is with me for the duration of my life and my children and grandchildren’s lives after I am gone. He is forever good. He is forever love. He is forever performing the words of this psalm: pardoning, healing, redeeming, crowning, and satisfying His beloved children. You and me.
May you become and remain an effusively thankful and grateful child of the King.
Your post on God’s forgiveness was a beautiful reminder of God’s love for me a sinner saved by grace
Amen, Thank you for the encouraging posts to keep my eyes on the Lord. The one who paid the most for me and loves me the most. I continually take my eyes off Him and its good to have that reminder.
God is forever good! He’s worthy of our thankfulness! I noticed that a mention of the judicial system in the article and would like to comment. Just a bit of information about the California judicial system. I am employed by the State of California Department of Corrections as a Parole Agent. My duties include assisting state prisoners reintegrate back into their families and communities upon their release from incarceration. Some of the ways I do this is family and individual counseling, substance abuse counseling via inpatient and outpatient programs, education, and employment training. This reintegration process actually begins while the prisoners are incarcerated and continues upon their release. It’s not a perfect system, as most man-made systems are not; but there are people in place so that the prisoner isn’t left to figure it out on their own upon their release. Also, the same services are offered by each county and the federal governments upon their release.