God Sees You As His Favored Child – How Do You See Yourself?

  You treat me to a feast while my enemies watch.  You honor me as your guest,
and you fill my cup until it overflows.  (Psalm 23:5, NEV )

Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;  for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:22-24, NRSV)

             Frequently, the patients to whom we minister, as well as we ourselves, and many other Christians, feel as though illness, physical and mental, is God’s punishment for our sins.  The 23^rd Psalm and Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son give us a different perspective on how our Father sees us.  In the Psalm, clearly we are the sheep.  In the parable, Jesus is speaking of each of us in relating the story of the son’s poor choices in his life and his return to his father’s estate in humiliation, poverty and disgrace – and repentance.  What should also be clear is that the shepherd and the father, who represent God, illustrate God’s immeasurable love and regard for us.  He shows us the very same hospitality that would be shown to an honored royal guest or even an angel (Genesis 18)!

            What is important to God is the fact that his child was dead and has come back to life, his child was lost and has been found!  If my son had gone out and lived a dissolute life on the streets, indulging in promiscuous sex, drugs and other self-destructive activities, and had shown up on my doorstep, repentant and contrite, would I berate him?  Certainly not!  I would show him to the bathroom where he could shower and shave. I would put clean, pressed clothes on him and prepare a nourishing meal for him.  I would do everything in my power to help him recover from his harrowing experience.  The very next Sunday I would share with my congregation about how my beloved son had returned to the family that loves him.

            God does not berate us for our poor choices.  He rejoices for the choice we made to return to the family that loves us.  “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.^”   (Luke 19:5)  No questions asked.  Only “Welcome home, my child.”

            Sometimes we would rather run around in shame and avoid God instead of humbly presenting ourselves to God and say, “We made a mistake.  We’re sorry.”  We fear God, instead of seeing him as our first destination when we realize that we have somehow, again, gone astray.

            We all make choices that are not in our best interest.  When we come to realize the mistakes we have made, it is essential that we return to God in humility, so that God may welcome us back, put a ring on our finger and sandals on our feet. 

            As care givers, we need to spread the good news:  You are dearly loved, and you are very, very special.  Do NOT let anyone ever tell you otherwise!

Mark Seymore- AMBS Intern Student
Bob Shreiner- Oaklawn Coordinator of Pastoral Care