Thursday, June 29, 2017
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If you've got a tie that's gone out of style, hang onto it. It will probably be back in style eventually and you can be cool again. In fact, a lot of clothes are in, then out, then eventually back in again. But it's not just clothes - it can happen to toys, too. Like that classic toy - the yo-yo! They were popular when I was a kid! But I heard that yo-yo's, you know, have made a comeback in the past. In this age of computers and high-tech video games, you know what? Kids are still interested in that little round toy at the end of the string. It's great. And you learn the same old tricks: "walk the dog" and "around the world". I feel like I'm in a time warp! I never could master all that fancy stuff. But there was always one thing I could count on with my trusty yo-yo. When it got to the end of the string, it always started coming back to me! Unless, of course, it wasn't attached; which case it kept on going.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Get Away From Jesus."
That yo-yo has something important to teach us about the most important relationship in our lives - our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. More about the yo-yo in just a moment.
First, our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from Luke 15:17-18 and right out of the story of the Prodigal Son. You know, he was the young man who got his inheritance from his dad while his dad was still alive and took off to party with it...until he partied it all away and found himself literally living with the pigs. Here's what the Bible says, "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father.'"
Did this boy ever stop being that man's son? No. Did he get away from his father who loved him? Yes. Could he ultimately stay away from his father? No. He remembered what life with his father was like, and he returned home. Maybe you're in that picture right now.
Do you have a personal relationship with God as your Heavenly Father? If you have put your trust in Jesus to be your personal Rescuer from your sin, the answer to that is yes. Now, once you belong to God, can you get away from Him? Yes, just like the son in this story. Can you ultimately stay away from Him? Not if you really belong to Him.
1 John 5:13 says, "...to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." Not feel like you have, not hope you have it - you know that you're going to heaven because of what Jesus did on the cross. But what about all those people who claim to know Jesus and they don't show many signs of it in the way they live? Did they have Jesus and then lose Him? Listen to the Father's words in 1 John 3:9, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he can't go on sinning, because he has been born of God."
Notice, he cannot go on sinning. If that professing Christian keeps on making a practice of sinning, it's a continual process, they don't lose their God-relationship - they show they never had it! Which brings us back to that yo-yo. When a yo-yo gets to the end of the string, it starts coming back unless it's not attached.
If you really know Jesus, you can only get so far without starting to come back to Him. Unless you're not really attached to Him. In which case, you'll keep on going. Maybe you're away from your Savior right now. Don't you miss Him? The greatest peace and the greatest love you've ever experienced in your life was when you were close to Jesus. And now, you're feeling hollow inside, guilty and lost.
But like the loving father with his prodigal son, Jesus is waiting to welcome you back with open arms. If you really know Him, you'll miss Him and you'd like to be home in His love once more. You've been away long enough haven't you?
Today is your day to come back to the One who, through it all, has never stopped loving you...or never will.