Grace for the Runaway
“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”
Luke 15:20 (NKJV)What would you do if the person who broke your heart came walking up the road? The father in Luke 15 did not wait on the porch with his arms folded. Jesus said it plainly: "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" (Luke 15:20, NKJV). Still a great way off. The son had not finished his speech yet. He had not cleaned up, paid anything back, or proved he had changed. The father ran first.
Day 13 of 30 on grace, and this is the facet nobody expects: grace does not wait for you to arrive. It comes down the road to meet you. The son had rehearsed a speech about becoming a hired servant, the safest, most businesslike apology he could manage. The father never let him finish it. There was a robe for his back, a ring for his hand, and shoes for his feet, because in that house a runaway coming home was not a problem to process. He was a son to restore.
Notice who was watching the road. The son was not scanning the horizon for his father. The father was scanning it for his son, which means he had been looking long before there was anything to see. That is how grace works on a Sunday morning and on every other morning too. God is not bracing Himself for your return, wondering how disappointed to be. He is watching the road.
If you have been walking home slowly, scared of the face you will find at the door, hear this: your Father is not waiting to lecture you. He is waiting to run. The distance you still have to cover is not the measure of His love. His compassion moved before your apology was finished, and it will move again today.
Prayer: Father, thank You for grace that runs. I stop rehearsing speeches and I come home as I am. Meet me on the road today, and restore what running away cost me. Amen.