Come Home

I recently experienced a message on the internet that was so powerful to me personally, mostly because of the situation that I find myself in, being in a relationship that is mired in unbelief, but I realized that we all have relationships that are bogged down by the refusal of someone in our life to follow Jesus. And yet what do we do? I have been so guilty of doing nothing. And I would go even farther than that to say that not only have I done nothing, but I have went out of my way to keep Christ out of the very thing that I should have been begging Him to be the center of… my marriage. Why? Because I allowed fear to move into my heart and take the place of the boldness that once lived there. The message was simple. It’s time to come home. The minister stated that his church’s mission statement is this: “so that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ.” Wow! Now, that’s a powerful purpose. Their goal wasn’t just to get people to church, because as we all know you can sit in church every Sunday of the year and be far from God, but to watch people be filled with LIFE in CHRIST. What an amazing objective!

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24

”An ordinary life has extraordinary value to our Heavenly Father.” A profound statement that has caused conviction to overtake my heart. Jesus told a parable that is so familiar to most of us in Luke Chapter 15 about the lost sheep. Please even if you’ve read it before, read it again and ask God to open your heart to His word, that you would be blessed as I have been by a new perspective.

“ Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:4-7

I never grasped the full implication of this parable until this week, probably because we live in a country that seems so far removed from biblical times, it’s almost impossible to imagine myself herding a flock of sheep or finding each of them so valuable that I would chase after one, while leaving the remaining ones behind. But the minister likened those sheep to children. I’d like to borrow from his example because I think it was a God inspired example of a modern day comparison for this parable. If you are a parent, and you are at the mall with your children and one disappears, you don’t just huddle up the ones that are still with you and say “Oh well, thank God I still have all of you.” NO, you leave them together in safety and find the baby that you’ve lost! And once they are found you rejoice together, tears of relief coursing down your cheeks and thank God for leading you back to your child.

Jesus calls each of us to spread the gospel both to strangers and to those close to us. Both should be important to us, but it seems like seeing our loved ones saved would be something we would be desperate for. And yet we say nothing. Why are we so afraid to risk our relationship with our loved one by mentioning eternal life? We should be challenging them to know Christ, setting an example of His love and instead we will sacrifice them on the altar of their sin, and allow them to perish in hell for eternity, rather than risking our relationship, which exists for but a moment compared to forever. We don’t uphold our own commitment to Christ if we let them drown in sin without offering them a life jacket.

I was so afraid to pray for my husband to re-discover Christ, thinking that I would only end up disappointing myself and frustrating myself right out of my faith (as had happened in the past) that I gave up on him spiritually, which eventually has led me to give up on him emotionally until even though I am seeking God there is no fulfillment in my relationship with Him because I am not truly following His commandments. God has been working on my heart to bring about a transformation in me and this message was the catalyst I needed to finally realize that by giving up on my husband and not reaching out to him as often as I can I am hindering myself. God cannot grant me the desire of my heart if I’m so afraid of failure I don’t ask. My husband needs me to fight on his behalf because he isn’t in a position to fight for himself right now.
I urge you whether or not you know my husband please pray for him. He is living a condemned life that only the salvation of Christ can save him from. He needs to be surrounded by people that care about reaching him and won’t give up on him even though the battle for his soul might exceed a “reasonable” amount of time. I pray daily now that God will soften him and that his heart will be turned back to God. “Nothing is impossible with God” so I have to believe that it can happen.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Most of you are probably praying for all of your unsaved loved ones, but I challenge you to do more than pray. Begin to seek opportunities, initiate boldness, demonstrate sacrifice, and recommit yourself to a more faithful walk with God, whether it be a recommitment of prayer or the reading of His word. I am renewing my own profession of faith to Christ today and reaffirming my commitment to do His work and fulfill His calling for my life even though it may never be the same as He originally intended. Use me for Your divine purpose, oh Lord.