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He could not get it.
He could not earn it.
No amount of money he could make would buy it.
He was simply outside of it.
And miserable.

But he had once had it. It had been his but he walked away from it. It was the love of his father. Love that was beyond what anyone could appreciate or earn. In fact it was the nature of the Father’s heart. It is God’s love. Pure, holy, unselfish and existing before anyone was alive to know about it or receive it.

What depth of love is in a parent’s heart over the birth of a newborn baby! And what joy! What tender affection comes pouring out of a parent at the birth of their child. There is nearly nothing to equal it. Nine months of hidden wonder. Nine months of careful living knowing that something wonderful is being fashioned. Something so absolutely helpless to live on its own: an infant. One on whom love is lavished from the first day it emerges and every single day afterwards. The newborn baby does exactly nothing to get that love. God’s word echoes this saying: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

There was once a young man who was born into a wealthy family. A family rich in that kind of love and materially rich as well. The son did nothing to get either the love or the material wealth which was his by birth. Eventually he became known as a prodigal, a wayward son making harmful choices. He grew up loved by his father but he took love for granted. Until...

Maybe you are familiar with this story Jesus told in Luke 15. Here is the context of the story in case you are not familiar with it: The son asks for and receives his inheritance from his father. He leaves his home and wastes it in riotous, wanton living, disregarding his father’s love. When he is at his lowest point, ashamed and unworthy of his father’s love, he realizes what a wretched condition he is in and has made of his life. Still in that condition, he rises to go to his father. But the father anticipates his return, sees him from a far-off distance, and runs to him, kissing him and welcoming him back with open arms and the same deep love he had for him before he left.

This is our case. We were created to be sons of God. But sin entered the world and mankind fell from God’s kind intention for him, becoming sinful. Sin and death spread to the whole world, and we were all born into that dreadful condition.

Perhaps the best-known character in the old testament is king David. He made this declaration when he found his own human life wrenched by sin: “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). He committed adultery and had one of his own soldiers put to death to try to cover it. He may not have known that he was even capable of sinning to such a degree. But he was and so are we.

But something amazing and wonderful happened when the prodigal son reached out from his misery and desired to be received back into the father’s love: a wonderful change took place. The father came running to him! And so has God come running to us. It is described in this verse from the Gospel of John: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The redemption that Christ Jesus accomplished on the cross is ours just for acknowledging our sins and asking for the sweet forgiveness offered by Him. If life’s circumstances have brought you to the bottom of yourself or if any kind of need has you concerned about your relationship to God, the answer is that the Father’s love is greater than your need. He is ready to receive you to Himself. He can do this because of His Son’s death on the cross on our behalf. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, paid for our sins with His blood at Calvary. If in reading this you believe that Christ died for you, say so in prayer to Him and immediately you will be forgiven of all your sins (as was the prodigal). You will become a child of God enjoying the love of God the Father. The Lord Jesus satisfied the Father’s love and righteousness on our behalf.

This is the wonderful change that can be yours!

You give Him your worn-out, sinful life and He gives you His incomparable divine life, making you a child of God. Do you believe that Christ Jesus died for your sins? God raised Him from the dead as proof that He accepted the death of His Son as payment for our sins. Tell God that you believe this. Tell Him that you believe in Him. This is what it means to receive Him. Confessing this to Him is how to know peace with God and know the love of the Father! It is all in Christ Jesus, God’s Son for you!

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