The Long Awaited Return

    Believer? Has your child walked away from the Lord? Discouraged and left without hope? Take heart, for God is faithful, even when we are faithless. Don’t miss the beauty of this truth and the personal application within. It was Hosea who so sacrificially set the example. For he was to marry a whore, who would be unfaithful in their marriage. And all the while in this whoredom, Hosea’s love would grow deeper for his wife. Yet their would be no reciprocity to his love for her, even to the point that she would become the wife of another man. But still Hosea sold his possessions to buy back the mother of own his children. He remained faithful, though she was unfaithful. Sounds awfully familiar doesn’t it? In the context of our relationship with the Lord, we are the whore (so says the text). All we bring to the table is whoredom, yet God remains faithful. Isn’t the revelation of this truth what brings us back to the Lord every time. We constantly fail and chose other gods and still He is always faithfully awaiting our return. It is this truth that brings us back in a state of rejoicing. It is at this truth we find our hands raised high in humble adoration of our faithful savior.
   
    Lets take this now one step further. Wasn’t it the faithfulness of the prodigals sons father that brought him back. For he remembered of his father, how even his servants were taken care of (Luke 15:17). Although he walked away, the fathers faithfulness left an everlasting impression on the heart of this prodigal son. In his worldly pursuits he was left empty handed and hungry, never finding the comfort he had seen demonstrated in his fathers house.
  
    Christian, this is my exhortation to you. Stay faithful and hold fast to the truth. When your children have wandered away from the faith, do not wander with them. Do not make exceptions and change your beliefs to comfort them in their affliction. Rather remain faithful and obedient to the Lord, that you might comfort them in the day of their return. For surely one day, your child will look upon your faithfulness to the Lord, and return home in all humility.
   
    The biggest witness of a believing parent to a non believing child is an unwavering faith. It was the faith of my own mother, who never compromised her relationship with the Lord in the time of my wandering that brought me back. For this world left me empty and searching, but the warming memory of my fathers house brought me back to a right standing relationship with the Lord.

    Now I never said this would be easy. Just as Hosea who loved and saw no reciprocity, you might find yourself loving your child even in the times they show no love back to you. This might require for you to sell off some of your possessions. Giving up your own freedom and time to make intercession on behalf of your child’s soul. For in every season there is a time to sow and a time to reap. For even in the story of the prodigal son, their would have been no fattened calf to celebrate with had their not been countless days of watching after it. Fatten your calf, be persistent in prayer, that you might share in the testimony of the prodigal son, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:24).