to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6
I love the story of the prodigal son. It’s such a deep story with so many layers and applications. For just a moment, focus with me on the end of the story. Imagine being that young man thrust in the middle of the banquet. He was surrounded by family and friends who had known him since he was a kid, but they also knew his story. Everybody there knew what he had done, knew how he had disrespected his father, knew how he had lived his life. They’d heard all the gossip about the immorality, the prostitutes and the partying.
Put yourself in his shoes. How do you feel? Uncomfortable? Ashamed? Undeserving? Afraid of rejection? Would you feel accepted?
Ephesians 1:3-6 contain some of the most mind-blowing truths in Scripture, and it finishes up with God’s grace “by which He made us accepted in the Beloved”. Accepted means highly favored, honored, showered with blessing. Other translations render it “glorious grace he has poured out on us,” “lavished on us,” “freely bestowed.”
As the boy journeyed home, his only concern was how his father would receive him. His father welcomed him joyfully, his heart overflowing with love.
How does our Father receive us? The very same way. Everyone else at the banquet shared the father’s heart and rejoiced with him. Only those outside the banquet resented the grace the father showed the prodigal.
I need to focus on my Father, who accepts me, favors me, showers me with blessing. The people outside the banquet- He’ll deal with them in His wisdom just as the father in the story approached his older son.
When it’s someone else’s banquet, I need to make sure which side of the door I’m on- the rejoicing side or the pouting side.
For more, see Shameless
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Bible study… Intimidating? Frustrating? Go to the Source.
After a couple of weeks considering what authentic faith is, here’s my summary – we don’t know.
It was such a simple thing, and I’d done it dozens of times before… Schedule a blog post. Once it posts, a tweet is generated with a link to the post. Straightforward, uncomplicated… At least in theory. Yesterday, the post missed its schedule. The tweet however, generated anyway with a link to a post that didn’t exist. And a minute later, another tweet was generated. And again a minute later. And again… for forty-seven minutes. (Something like that… I couldn’t count the tweets. Frankly didn’t want to count the tweets.)