It is early, well, early in this household, this week anyway. The point, the thoughts are doing that relentless “write us down” thing again. See, there are some other things that must be revealed about the Prodigal, this Prodigal anyway, and that is that after the Prodigal has been home and comfy in her new life for awhile, she can start to act like the other brother, that is when she isn’t reflecting on the shame and guilt stuff. So, I want to take us now to the other side of the struggle with the returned Prodigal, and this time I think this one is mostly for me, but we’ll see.
It’s been one of those successful months for the Prodigal. She hasn’t had a single reminder of where she’s been. No past friend or “Ex” popping up on the old Facebook Friend Request, no articles read about Planned Parenthood that spark her to say “those guys, again, let me tell you about those evil jerks, I’ve been there for STD testing, and let me tell you…” A very rare month for the Prodigal, she is feeling comfortable, almost complacent in her stay-at-home wife and mommy, church going Christian role. And then… Then she hears about another Prodigal, this one maybe hasn’t come home completely yet. How does she react? How does she reach out to this “lost one” in her time of need? I’d like to say that she always does the right thing, but, she doesn’t. She forgets that she has a past. She forgets that we are all sinners, and she does the very thing that made it harder for her to come home, she judges.
Now we are really peeling the smelly onion layers off this Prodigal. How we all despise hypocrisy, how I despise hypocrisy, it is, after all the leading cause of teens leaving the church, but my dear friends, I am nothing if I am not honest in this, I too, am a filthy hypocrite.
This former Prodigal is guilty of judging the Prodigals. It is a trap that we can find ourselves in when we let ourselves forget what we have been saved from. It is a trap I have to avoid. I have this sort of catch 22 thing going on. On the one hand dwelling on the past can lead to feelings of shame and guilt, on the other, forgetting the past can lead to feelings of superiority, the “hey, look at me, I’m a church going Christian, and you aren’t” complex. What a nasty pickle to be in! Good News! It doesn’t have to be this way!
Here is something this Prodigal is being worked on, focusing on God’s grace instead of the guilt or becoming a hypocrite. When I do this, and I can not do it without the help of my Savior, I can be made an effective tool for His purpose. When I focus on grace, I can go to the Prodigals of the world, and I can reach out in love instead of judging them. And because I have been there I can go to them with the experience of having been there.
Pray for me. Pray that God will keep me focused on grace and remind me that I may be a church going Christian, but that what really matters is that I believed, and that I can’t get into heaven because of my church attendance, which is really good, because my family have been sick lately and we’ve missed a lot of church, I get to heaven because of grace, because I believe in the one who died for me, and I believe that His grace is enough to save all the Prodigals who come home. Also, pray that in focusing on grace, the guilt and shame that threaten to keep me from His work will stay away.
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