WHO'S THE BEGGAR? - Daily Devotional for January 28, from "Good Seeds"

And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. And the son said, “Father, I have sinned…. (Luke 15:20,21).

Revelation 3:20 pictures Jesus outside the heart’s door waiting to be invited in. If we’re not careful we can get the false impression of a milquetoast Savior timidly begging entrance, like a salesmen hoping to get a foot in the door so he can demonstrate his product! And too many evangelists make just such an appeal: “Oh sinner, won’t you give Jesus a chance!” – as if He were one of many options for us to examine and try out whenever we might be of a mind to bend low enough to favor Him with our attention! What a woefully inadequate and inaccurate picture! The story of the prodigal son gives the correct perspective: a starving, sin-sick young man, having wandered far from home to wallow in the filth of the world, is finally ravaged by it and thrown out with the trash. In such a state he comes to his senses and humbly returns to his Father, where he begs for, and graciously receives, forgiveness and restoration. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…blessed are those who mourn.” This is the only way we can come into God’s presence: on our faces in shame and repentance. Have you ever hitchhiked? You stand out there on the roadside, feeling like a starving, naked beggar, avoiding eye contact with drivers who, you suppose, are suspecting you to be a deranged rapist or serial killer! This is the right way to consider the meeting of the sinner with the Savior – except too many people make Jesus the shame-faced hitch-hiker while the unbeliever eyes Him with suspicion, waiting for Him to prove that He is not just one more disappointing charlatan or religious hoax. Guess what: as long as you are in the driver’s seat, calling the shots, you will never meet God! But reverse the roles, and you’ll have it right: WE are the lowly hitchhikers, and HE is the merciful driver. It is mankind that is weighed in the balances and found wanting, not God! Because we are sinners, we “come short of the glory of God.” So we must go to Him, call on Him. Yes, Jesus calls to us, too, and knocks on our heart’s door, for we can only say yes to Him if He first says yes to us. But let’s be done with this foolish nonsense that puts God on the defensive, as if He has to prove anything. Our sin is proof enough that WE are the beggars, desperately in need of a second chance, an embrace of mercy, a kiss of compassion. And HE is our gracious Father, quick to run and meet us – on our way back to Him!