All ye who are weary, come home.

For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! Romans 8:38-39 HCSB

Wherever I have wandered, wherever I have strayed, I found no place or thing that could extinguish the memory of the day I was saved.  Jesus Christ had become my Lord and Savior on October 28th, 1986, at 7:30 PM CST.  For a while, after that, I walked in my salvation and told others how Jesus Christ will lead them to salvation.  I was warned in advance that an event would happen that, if I stood under the shelter of the Almighty, I would be carried through that event, and made stronger.  I failed that test.  From there I fell.

I fell hard.  I lost hope, and from there, I refused to follow Christ.  The ensuing 20 years was a hell I never want to live through again.

I know I have told this to you several times.  Here is why I am telling it to you again.  Try as I might, I couldn’t forget God.  I could not forget the joy of His fellowship.  No amount of drink, adrenalin inducing activity, or women, could erase the call God had placed on my life.

I discovered that, in the end, there was no power in all of creation that could extinguish that sweet touch of the Love of God.  The flame of my devotion had dwindled to a small ember, but the ember never went out.  I couldn’t put it out, no matter what I did.

I also discovered that ember was the abiding love of God, through Jesus Christ.  Even in the depths of my depravity, I could hear the still small voice calling me home.  I longed for a return to Grace, not understanding that it was grace sustaining me, and keeping me tethered to God.

Where I was the only barrier keeping me from coming home, the Spirit of God was the wind that kept the ember burning bright, calling me to come home.  What a sweet agony it was to hear the voice of the Lord calling me to return to Him.  Where I thought it was impossible to return, He was telling me it was simple.  All I had to do was be still, and listen to Him forgive me, and heal all my sin and hurt and pain.

I came Home.

I know for a fact that one of the readers of this Blog is going through the same thing.  You remember the sweet fellowship of Jesus.  You remember singing His praises.  Somehow, you have let the cares of the world, and the desires of the flesh come between you and Him.  The Apostle Paul wrote that, if it weren’t for the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, there would be no sin.  You and I can testify to that truth, because we have drunk deep of these three things.

Know this, there is noting you can possibly do that will take you away from Him and His love for you.  How do you get home?  Go back to what you know.  “God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that, whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting Life.”  John 3:16.   Start there.  And be still.  Listen to the voice of the Lord.  He will wash you with His Love and mercy.  His grace has sustained you, even though you have strayed very far away.  When you be still and know that He is God, you will discover, all you have done is wander across the palm of the hand of the Almighty.  He never, ever, let you out of His sight.  He never abandoned you.  He never stopped loving you, no matter what you did.

Be still and accept His healing power.

When Jesus said, on the cross, “It is finished!”, He was declaring that all sin ever committed, all sin being committed, and all sin that will be committed has been put to death through His death on the cross.  God poured His wrath on His own Son, and Jesus accepted that judgement, on your behalf.  You are free from this burden.  

When you come home, you will not find a vengeful God waiting to stomp you in to the dirt.  Christ does not have to die twice for you.  The work on the cross was completed at His death.  And your eternal life was secured when He rose again from the death.  He is Lord over all life and death.

At one point in time, you accepted Jesus as your Savior, the deal was done.  Your salvation was sealed.  Nothing can remove you from God.  Not even you.  When Jesus said, “It is Finished”, God saw you as already complete.

Life as you know it, is a continuing process of making you into the image of Christ.  When we wandered, that process was interrupted.  He is waiting for you right where the process stopped, so that He can heal you and continue making you into the image of Christ.

Come home.

Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?