Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Luke 15

The Father’s Love

The Father’s Love

By |

But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his fee: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry:  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.  And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:22-24

As we close our consideration of this examination of the love of God the Father as Christ describes it, to what shall we compare it?  One the most fitting comparisons is that, as we behold it in this story of the prodigal son, the father’s love is like the light of the sun.  There was no time in the story when the father’s love did not manifest itself.  When the youth left home for the far country, the father’s love went with him.  Though the young man was far away, still, like the sunlight, the father’s love shown upon him.  When it was time for the boy to return to his father in contrition, the love of the father, like the sunlight, shone upon the road home.  When he got to within sight of the house, the warmth of the father’s love, like the sunlight, reached forth to draw him in.  Thus the love of God does to us.  Wherever we stray, the love of God shines upon us.  When we return in repentance, the love-light of the father shines upon Christ, the only road home.  When we draw near to God, His love-light warms us and draws us in.  We bask in the constant pervading love of the never failing, ever-loving God.

Our Gracious and Loving God,
we rejoice that Your Love follows us wherever we go.
We praise You that Your Mercy is new every morning,
and that Your Faithfulness is great.

When God Runs

When God Runs

By |

And he arose, and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luke 15:20

People run for different reasons.  Some run for health; some run for fear; some run for acclaim; some run for a prize.  God runs for none of these reasons.  Recall to mind Who is telling the story.  This is Christ, describing the love of God the Father for those who are estranged from Him.  He has loved them enough to let them go.  He has loved them enough to look for their return.  Now, Christ describes how the father reacts once he has discerned the form of his errant son in the distant haze of the horizon. Christ says that he, ‘had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.’  God runs out of His sheer excitement at seeing His wandering children come home.  This is a wonderful insight into His character.  What excites the Sovereign Ruler of the universe enough to enable the Person Who know Him best to describe Him as running?  It is the return of his dearly beloved child. That is the reason God the Father runs.  Here is the beautiful character of our God on display.  Here we see who and what He really is.  Today, let us fix our hearts and minds upon God, Our Loving Father, Who runs to meet His returning child.

Our Good and Loving God,
we rejoice that You welcome us home
who have gone away from You.
We praise You for the privilege we have
of being taught by Christ
the elements of Your Holy Character.
Looking Down the Road

Looking Down the Road

By |

And he arose, and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on is neck, and kissed him.

Luke 15:20

Christ brings to light another characteristic of the Father’s love when he speaks of the father’s response to his son’s return.  Our consideration today lies in the words, ‘But when he was a great way off, his father saw him.’  The young man, whom the father had loved enough to let go, had gone off to the far country with his inheritance in hand and, ‘there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  When he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in the land and he began to be in want.’  The youth, reduced to the point where he was feeding pigs, and willing to eat what they ate, decided to return to his father’s house and beg to become a servant.  What is interesting for us to behold is that the father knew the figure of his son ‘when he was still a great way off.’  We can imagine how often the father had gone to the front of his home and shaded his eyes to see if he could discern the figure of his returning son.  This shows us the love of God the Father as Christ describes it.  The All-seeing God looks, as it were, down the road in anticipation of the return of those whom He loves.  He knows the day is coming when our disheveled, shambling figure will appear on the horizon.  Until then, He looks down the road.

Our Kind and Gracious Father,
we rejoice that You anticipate our return to Your House.
We praise You that in Your sovereignty,
You wait until the day comes for us to come home.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Enough to Let Go

Enough to Let Go

By |

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.  And he divided unto them his living.  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Luke 15:12-13

Love demonstrates itself in deeds.  All the professions of love mean nothing if deeds do not match words.  Our text for today describes a scene which would break the heart of any loving parent.  The young man demands his inheritance and shortly departs to live it up far from any influence of his father.  What is interesting, for our purpose, is the behavior of the father.  He grants the young man’s request.  In essence, he loves the boy enough to let him go.  This is very hard for us to embrace as parents.  We want the best for our children, and we want to turn them from a course which we see will end in disaster.  We see here that Christ, in describing God the Father, indicates that He loves us enough to let us make bad choices.  We see evidence of this all around us, and have to look no further than our own personal experience to know that it is true.  God the Father loves us enough to allow us to make bad decisions, all the while knowing what the consequences will be.  Because He knows the end from the beginning, He also knows that the circumstances will change to bring us back to Him in due course of time.  Today, let us marvel at the love of God the Father that is great enough to let us go.

Our Gracious and Loving God,
we rejoice at the manifestation of Your love.
We praise You, that even though we may go astray,
yet, Your love pursues us, no matter how far we go.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
So He Spoke

So He Spoke

By |

And he spake this parable…

Luke 15:3a

For the believer, the words of Christ are the end of all controversy.  An example of this is Christ’s statement, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’  We accept this statement as it indicates that Christ is the only way for us to enter into a relationship with God.  Because we do accept Christ’s words as authoritative, we believe what He tells us about all the subjects upon which He speaks.  This includes His description of God the Father.  Christ knows God the Father thoroughly and can speak authoritatively as to what He is like.  For the next little while, we are going to examine what Christ has to say about God the Father in the very picturesque account of the prodigal son.  This is one of the most poignant and endearing descriptions of the Father that we have in Scripture.  We want to bear in mind that this description is from the One Who knows the Father in every detail.  Normally, when we consider the narrative of the prodigal son, we center the majority of our thoughts on the young man.  For our purpose of coming to a better understanding of God the Father, we will consider Him as Christ depicts Him by describing to us the father who appears in this story of redemption.  Today, let us begin by focusing on the fact that what we are about to observe derives directly from what ‘He spoke.’

Our Holy and Wise God,
we rejoice that You are our Father in heaven.
We praise You that we can hear the words of Christ,
and thereby come to a better understanding of Who You are.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Meta