Conclusion:
Let’s remind ourselves about the Parable of the Two Sons which Jesus told in Matthew 21:28 – 32. Even though the immediate lesson in this parable has to do with self-righteous religious people and those whose lives on the surface look as if they have no hope, we can still draw from the underlying principle of the story, it is what we actually do that matters, not what we say we are going to do.
We can also look to the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11 – 32. Though we may squander what our Father has given us, and though we may eat the food of swine, our Father is looking for us to come home, and when He sees us He does not wait for us to come to Him, He runs to us. We might say that Jesus Christ coming to us is, indeed, our Father running to us. The difference between the parable and our own story is, of course, that Jesus ran to the pig pen to redeem us, our Elder Brother offered Himself as a sacrifice for us!
My point is that if you have veered off course, it is never too late to run the race, it is never too late to fulfill your calling in Jesus Christ, it is never too late to join your brothers and sisters in the only race of life that matters.
I have friends who I imagine have been on course ever since they first met Jesus. I’m not saying that they haven’t had missteps, I’m not saying they couldn’t have done things better, I assume we can all look back and learn. I am saying that they’ve stuck to the course, that they have not crashed through the guardrails.
I am deeply thankful that these friends are in my life, they have been an example and inspiration for me, I have drawn strength from their lives in Christ, I have learned from them. If you have never crashed through the guardrails you have much to be thankful for, much indeed.
On the other hand, if you have wrecked your life, I want you to know that your Father and Lord Jesus are waiting for you on the race course so that you can finish well and finish strong. Enough of eating pig’s food, your Father has a fattened calf and wonderful bread and wine at His Table with your name at a place setting.
If not for yourself, then get back in the race for others, our obedience matters to others, no one else has been given your race instructions, no one else has quite the course laid out that you have – we matter to one another, we need each other, we are a Body, we are Christ’s Body and His Presence, and if one of us is diminished, then we are all diminished.
Recall that Jesus is our Redeemer. He not only redeems us, but somehow, someway, He redeems the hell we’ve been through, the damage we’ve done, the wickedness we’ve propagated. He took all of this upon Himself on the Cross – who are we to deny the glorious and mysterious redemption of Jesus Christ on the Cross?
I write as someone who has crashed through the guardrails after coming to know Jesus. The very fact that I am writing these words and you are reading them is a miracle, it is also a testimony to the redemption that we all have in Jesus Christ.
Life is about Jesus Christ, it really isn’t about us. Life is about the story of Jesus, it isn’t first about our story. Yet, within the story of Jesus we can truly find our own stories. Within the life of Jesus we can find our own lives.
When I was 16 years old, my older friend George Will talked to me again and again about “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Now I’m approaching 75 years old, and those words are truer today to me than they have ever been.
When I was a teenager George used to quote 1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that just as it is written, Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” When I was an older man George was still quoting it. Now that I am (so I’m told) an old man, with George gone to heaven, I still hear him quoting it.
My point is that it is all about Jesus Christ and His love for us. Jesus truly loves you so very very much and so deeply – nothing can separate you from the love of God! (Romans 8:31 – 39). Nothing!
Finish well my friend, finish well and finish strong!
(And don’t hesitate to contact me).
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