Lifetime Daily DevotionsSample

ReconciledBut I will not give you up--

I will plead for you to return to me,

and will keep on pleading:

 yes, even with your children's children

in the years to come.

Jeremiah 2:9 (Taylor's Living Paraphrase)

 

            Why would someone stoop so low--humble himself--to plead with a person to "return to me"--and refuse to give up pleading--even with the children to come?

 

             Some of you know from experience, you have pled with a mate to return--to care for the children you conceived together--to provide for you and for them--to share together--to love you again. Some have literally begged a child, "We love you. Please come back home." If only you will return to Me and love Me as I long to be loved--everything will be all right. We'll be together again and I will bring beautiful healing to our relationship (II Chronicles 7:14). How many times did God humble Himself, pleading with His people for reconciliation? And what does "reconciled" mean? Being together again--having settled all of the arguments--starting all over--understanding each other--agreeing to love one another and let bygones be bygones.

 

            God's enormous task from the moment in the Garden when Adam and Eve declared their independence from their Creator has been reconciliation. How many times in the Old Testament does He say, "If only YOU will ... then I will." Someone has summarized the Old Testament with this simple statement: "He wanted them back." The last book of the Old Testament is Malachi. The book opens with this poignant plea, "I have loved you," says the Lord, and ends with the same poignancy, "Return to Me and I will return to you."

 

            Why did Christ come into our world? You quickly say, "To save people from their sins." You are right. But what did our sins do in our relationship with the Lord? They separated us from Him. So Jesus came, and God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (II Corinthians 5:19). He is still pleading with us, "I want you back. I yearn for your love."

             John 3:16 essentially summarizes the entire Bible: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .. You might say, "I thought He wanted to save us from hell." That's right, but where does He want us to be? With Him. In the place He has prepared for us. Just as surely as there are those who have been pleading for a loved one to come back, Jesus/God continues to plead, "Come back to Me. I love you."

 

            What joy engulfs parents when a rebellious child comes to them to say, "I was wrong. May I please come home?" What untold joy fills a heart when a mate returns to say, "I have been wrong. I have hurt you. Will you please forgive me and take me back?" This is God's deepest desire--for us to come to Him and say, "I am sorry. I have hurt You and I know now that I was wrong. You have proved Your love to me and I want to be with You'--I want to love You and bring You joy."

 

            God shouts, "Strike up the band! Get the choir together! We are celebrating a wonderful homecoming! My child and I have been reconciled!"