There is a thought, a search for understanding that keeps tugging at my heart. It revolves around God the Father’s love for all of us….and our ideas of whom God the Father loves.

Do you ever look at other people and wonder can God love them? Do we judge them unworthy and ourselves better and more worthy because of how we measure worthiness? Do you ever wonder how God measures their worthiness or how He measures us? I think that possibly misses the point. Does God measure our worth?

Jesus told a parable to his Disciples. Imagine being there listening to Him and better yet, imagine being in the parable and watching what went on. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14.

When we judge ourselves or others by our criteria we miss the point. The Father’s love is not like our love and is beyond our understanding. One of the most beautiful parables of the Father’s love is in Luke 15:11-31 and it tells the lesson of all of us. There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate”. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

When that younger son realized how foolish he had been and was destitute and reduced to hiring himself out to another to barely survive, he longed to return home to his own father to maybe be hired out there because he realized he wasn’t worthy anymore to be called a son.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

He was filled with joy at the return of his loved son and ordered a feast and the best robe for him to wear and a ring and sandals to wear. He loved his son. He rejoiced to have him back.

The older son who stayed with the father and didn’t squander anything wasn’t so pleased to see his brother or the love his father was showing to one so “unworthy”. Do we have that same attitude toward others who sin? It’s funny, I’ve always related more to the older son. Since I have been drawing closer to God, however, I’ve come to see the tremendous love God our Father has for each one of us…even the older son so self-righteous and angry. “My son, the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

We read about the “Prodigal Son” yesterday at Church and I couldn’t help but think about the tax collector and Pharisee cited earlier. I couldn’t help but see parallels between the Pharisee and the older brother. It’s so very easy to look down on others who sin and forget how much we need the Father’s forgiveness, love and restoration. We all need that so much. A question asked yesterday at Church was what do you think happened between the older and younger son in the day to day after that remarkable celebration of their father’s love? Did the older son learn to forgive and love so well? Did the younger son learn to love and honor better? Somehow, I think the younger son did learn well because he needed that forgiveness and understanding so very much. He could no longer look down on others thinking he was better and more righteous because he knew better. The deepest lesson he learned was how much his father loved him and that parable is about our Father who loves us that way even though we sin and fail. He loves us that well. He loves you that well.

At the end of Church we listened to the song You’re A Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin (on YouTube) and it was so fitting and the lyrics so beautiful. It’s worth a listen! He is a good, good Father who loves us so well and is ready to embrace us no matter how filthy we are or how distorted our “self-righteousness” has made us. Rejoice in that love and be embraced in the love the Father longs to lavish on you.