Posted by
Steve Brown on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:47:10 PM
I always hated telling my Dad that I had done something wrong when I was a kid. I remember an event that happened when I was five or six years old. I simply couldn't bring myself to go straight home after school. There was always an invitation to go to my friend Kipper's house to play, and the canyon nearby always held infinite irresistible promises of fun and adventure. After being told time and again that I had better get home before sunset, one evening as I was walking up to our front door it dawned on me that I was in trouble... it was dark! On top of that, I was covered head to toe in dirt from the great outdoors. I stopped in my tracks. I could hear the family having dinner in the house. If I went inside my father would be angry, so I sat down on the brick planter just outside the front door to think through my options. I sat and thought about things long enough to realize that dinner had ended and it had become even darker than when I first got to the front door. I was one forlorn little boy and I started to cry. After a little while my Dad heard me, came out to get me, laughed at how ridiculous I looked, then he sent me to get a bath and had dinner on the table for me when I was clean.
One day not nearly as long ago I realized that God used that memory to teach me a lesson about His love. He is the Father who deserves respect and a healthy fear, but He's not unloving, and doesn't want us to be driven away from Him in terror. This also made me wonder about the world that is rejecting Him. How many people are there in the world who are going through the same thing I did as a child? Knowing that they will have to answer to God, yet not knowing Him well enough to realize that God wants them at His table with His other children? How many are close enough to the kingdom to hear the joy and laughter, yet afraid of the scolding they think they'll get if they walk in the door? I suspect the numbers are huge, and that it breaks God's heart. It isn't easy to come to God and admit you sinned. Sitting outside His kingdom seems easier for a while, but it doesn't make anything better. There is room at the table. The feast is ready, come and eat.