Devotionals
Reflections:
- In Joshua, forty years of wandering had come to an end. The Israelites had crossed the Jordan River and had entered into the land of "Milk and Honey." It was a time to celebrate! The celebration, however, was not one of simple joy. It was a remembrance meal focusing their thoughts on where they had been. God never abandons us in the wilderness. Instead, He is ever present, leading and guiding us to His ultimate goal - nearness to Him. As God rolls away the memory of our own wilderness experiences, it is an important part of our spiritual growth to be able to look back, remember, and learn.
- This week in 2 Corinthians Paul teaches that everything is made new in Christ. That the memory of our sins has been blotted out. Christ is a bridge enabling us to draw close to God. He gives us access to God's reconciliation. The righteousness of God flows through us and out into the world like a vessel full and overflowing. As we view that bloody cross on Calvary we are vividly reminded that it is our sins that made Christ bleed and because of that we are able to become right with God.
- In Psalm 32 David is expressing his happiness because he has received God's forgiveness for his sins. A great burden has been lifted and his feelings of guilt erased. David teaches us that we have a choice in the way we follow God. We can be willing participants in the plan God has for our lives or we can be pulled stubbornly down that pathway like a mule fighting at the bit and bridle. The journey may be more difficult when we struggle to go our own way but God insistently pulls us ever closer to Him.
- In the Gospel lesson in Luke this week we reread the familiar story of the Prodigal Son. We learned that both sons had drifted from the relationship God had intended. The younger son had fled into the wilderness looking to fulfill every selfish desire while the older son meandered away ever so slowly yet just as far in a fog of self-righteousness and piety. When we come to our senses and see how far we have wandered, we willingly return to God's arms. When we do God celebrates our return home.
Four years have passed since my last trip home. Sitting next to the window I am watching the corn-filled fields of Iowa and Nebraska below slip quickly by. How have things changed back home? What will be different? I know I am different. I am no longer that looking-for-a-laugh-at-every-opportunity type of guy that I was when I left for the army right out of high school. Will my friends be different? Will they remember me? Will Mom still treat me like a little boy or will she recognize that I have become a man?
A man. Is that what I am now? A man? When did that happen? When was the exact moment I became a man? Was it the day I stepped onto that bus for boot camp? Worms, they called us. Maggots! Is that being a man? Maybe I became a man that first time on leave when I became so drunk that I woke up lying at the foot of a toilet in the barracks. How did I get there? Was that my first glorious step into manhood? Maybe it was with those prostitutes in Singapore? Or at that casino in Guam when we fought with the Marines? Or was it when Cookie died in my arms from the gut-shot he received from the Cong we fought that day in September?
I am coming home. Will they recognize me? Will they see how I have changed? Will they know who I am? What should I say? Do I tell them what I have done? Do we talk about the war? Will they want to know how many gooks I killed? Will I be able to sit there over Mom's home-made cookies and flavored coffee and be able to handle her idle chit-chat about her woman's sewing group or about how little Billy who lives next door will be graduating this year? Will I be able to know what to say? Do I explain why I left? Do they understand why I had to leave? Do we simply start over with our lives?
Oh God. Help me. Forgive me for what I have done. Teach me how to be a man.
Closing Prayer:
Loving Father: We are coming home. Open your gracious arms and receive us into your care. We know that we have drifted. We can't help our selves. We think we are on the right path and then we look around and realize that we are so very far off the mark. Our sins have mounted. We have done things we know we should not do. Our focus on our selfish desires has taken us into the wilderness of despair and grief. Our conceited view of the world has led us into the pits of self-righteousness and pride. We may have, at one time, been following you but we now see that our stubbornness is making the path difficult and rocky. Oh God, help us. We are nothing without you. We have no hope without your Son who died on that cross for times such as these. We are unworthy of your love and yet, we realize that you have never been far from our side. You have led, even carried us, through difficult times. Thank you Lord. Guide us and use us for your glory. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray. Amen.
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