HIS LOVE REACHES OUT TO YOU

Dearly beloved, I bring you greetings in the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God and our soon coming King. It is with great joy that I’ll be sharing the word with you on this beautiful Sunday morning on the subject of God’s love, so that you can become established in this truth.

 

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

 

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” – Luke 15:20-21 (NKJV)

 

Our text today is based on the parable of the prodigal son, which is a very familiar story amongst believers and unbelievers alike. However, I want to draw your attention to some truths from this passage of scripture, to further strengthen your belief in God’s unconditional, irreversible, and everlasting love for you. The prodigal son sought to receive his inheritance from his father, with a plan to travel to a distant land, where he squandered it on various activities. By this request and subsequent action, this young man displayed a rebellious nature of wanting to live independently of his father’s will; a position that many of us find ourselves in today, even as Christians.

 

Unfortunately for him, a famine hit the land after he was done wasting his resources, and he found himself in a pigs’ sty, where he had to eat the same meal the pigs were eating in order to survive. The Bible then records, that after he came to himself, he decided to return to his father whom he had abandoned, but not as a son, but as a servant (Luke 15:18-19). Now, one would expect that after all that had transpired, the relationship between the prodigal son and his father had been totally severed, but then let’s see what happened.

 

Beloved, the text says that while he was still a great way off, his father sighted him, and ran to receive him. What does that tell you? The father had been expecting the return of his son, and was always on the lookout for him, reason why he was able to recognize him from a great distance. Put on your imagination – the young man must have been battered, having suffered from the famine, coupled with the stress of the journey he had undertaken to get home, but still, in that deplorable state, the father was able to recognize him. Not only did he recognize him, he ran to meet him and embraced him, out of compassion. According to Jewish law and culture, it was forbidden; it was very disgraceful for a father to run, how much more him running to his son. Following the tradition of the day, the son would have been welcomed to a ceremony of shame, going by what had transpired, but rather than allow that, his father reached out to him in love, and extended grace to him, even when the law condemned him. Even with his filth from living with pigs, the father still embraced and kissed him – oh what manner of love!

 

Child of God, the Father loves you dearly, and it does not matter the extent of filth that you carry, He still loves you, and is watching out for you. I’ve said this many times and it bears repetition; God is love, and cannot do anything but love. However, for a very long period, religion painted a picture of a God who is looking out to strike you down when you fall short, but that is not the case. He loves you dearly, irrespective of you. He knows you, your shortcomings, weaknesses, and antecedents, even more than you do, and yet still extends His unconditional love to you. Apostle Paul writing in Romans 8:35 (NKJV) says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or peril, or sword?”

 

Beloved, even in sin, God’s love for you has not and cannot change. Yes, you may have made a mistake, but He loves you regardless, and His love reaches out to you. Listen, He said that He has loved you with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3), in other words, a love that will never run out or dry up. Child of God, the Father’s love for you is forever, unending, and eternal.

 

I decree that His love will open doors for you this week, and cause rivers to flow in your desert. I bless you in Jesus’ name!

 

Maranatha!

In His Royal Service,

Dr Mike Okonkwo

The Presiding Bishop