Barrier-Breaking Love

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables about God’s enormous joy when one person who was going their own way turns around to be reunited with God. In the third parable, a son demands his inheritance before his father dies, and then he goes and lives foolishly until he has nothing left. He gets a job feeding pigs and is so hungry he wishes he could eat the pigs’ food.

When the prodigal son comes to his senses, he longs to return home to his father, where even the hired servants have plenty to eat. Yet he thinks, “I am no longer worthy to be called his son. Maybe I can beg him to treat me like a servant.” But when the son returns home, his father is watching and waiting for him. The father runs to his son, embraces him, and even treats him with honor. The father doesn’t scold or resent him but instead fully accepts him as his son.

God is like the good father in this parable. Today, if you’ve put your trust in Jesus, you are part of God’s family. You are a child of God, and no one can change that. Even when you fail, you remain His child. God’s love for you never changes, and He always longs for you to be with Him. He always waits for you to draw near to Him.

The truth is, none of us can do what is right and good in our own strength. It’s been this way since the first humans rebelled against God. But when we were God’s enemies, totally helpless to save ourselves, God loved us so much that He gave His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us and raise to life. Jesus defeated sin and death, and now He invites everyone to put their trust in Him and come home to God.

Even as God’s forgiven children, though, we all fail—again and again—to honor and obey God. But because Jesus has already made us right with God, we can know that He doesn’t just love us when we are “good,†He loves us every moment.

Through Jesus, you are God’s child despite your flaws and shortcomings. God still welcomes you, and He will guide and support you if you seek Him. Nothing you do (or don’t do) will ever change that you are His. Jesus said no one can snatch you from God’s hand. He will always be your Father, and you will be His child no matter what happens. • Golda Dilema

• If you know Jesus, you are permanently His—forever—and there’s nothing you can do to change that (John 10:27-30). How does this truth comfort you? How does it challenge you?

• To learn more about what it means to know Jesus and become His, check out our “Know Jesus” page.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children… 1 John 3:1 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 3:11-15