Stamps and Sparrows, Part 2
By Helen Jesze, 19th April 2024
Do you find it difficult to please God and experience the daily torment of feeling that you fall short of his standard? Are you worried lest he will or has already cast you off for your failures? Perhaps you are trying to earn your salvation like the members of some sects who constantly perform certain religious rites or duties in an effort to score up good marks for eternity.
Or perhaps the devil takes you through his gallery. As you walk through, looking at the photos on exhibition, you are horrified to see that every one is a picture of your sins and defeats. While you are looking, he is there at your elbow whispering: ‘Fancy you forgetting that. You’ve got no right to call yourself a Christian when you do things like that. God does not love you anymore. And just look at this picture I snapped yesterday — you thought nobody was looking but I was ready with my camera. You can’t fool me! And over here in the corner is a real beauty I unearthed out of the cupboard … Why, even God couldn’t forgive something like this. You might as well face it, you’re just no good! Why do you keep trying? You might as well come my way; I’ve just about got you anyway!’
Wherever you find yourself today, Jesus sees you. You are not hidden from him. Jesus has sat where you sit in the problems of life. He is not some great deity who looks down on his creatures as though they were billions of crawling ants, just to be crushed under his feet. He is our ‘great High Priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities’, whose heart overflows with compassion to the needy and who longs to turn our captivity.
Jesus divested himself of his kingship and glory just as a man would take off his jacket and hang it up until he needed it again, then put on the form of a man and became as one of us. He suffered cold, hunger and loneliness. He knew rejection and the deepest of disappointments. He did not allow himself to be deceived or swayed by popularity or praise but knew these would soon turn to betrayal and denial.
He was called a ‘Man of Sorrows’ — one who was well acquainted with grief. His mental agony in Gethsemane was so intense that the blood vessels in his forehead burst and he sweat blood instead of water. Angels came to strengthen him or he would have died there in the garden before even getting to the cross.
Jesus was not just a human example for us to follow, who then suffered a martyr’s death. He was our substitute who took our place under the wrath of God and paid the price which we had no way of paying. God raised him from the dead and we can now go free. This is the ‘good News’ — that the Father has already forgiven us, because of Jesus. But we must accept his forgiveness and be ‘born again’ into God’s family.
But perhaps that is where your problem lies – you’re in the family, but you can’t see God as a Father; or your picture of a father is so distorted that you don’t know the real meaning of the word.
In these days, the Holy Spirit is bringing about a new consciousness of God as our Father. That was a bone that stuck in the throat of the religious leaders who heard Jesus talk of God as his Father. They could understand a god of justice, of vengeance, someone to be feared and hide away from, someone to be worshipped in fear and trembling — a duty to be performed to appease his wrath and judgement. But when Jesus turned the coin over and showed God’s other side, they could not accept it.
Jesus illustrated this lesson to them in the story of the two brothers. The younger son began to dream of a day when he could give up the work in his father’s fields and live a life of ease and luxury. He dreamed of far-away places and beautiful women. The dream took possession of him until he finally persuaded his father to give him his share of the inheritance.
The father divided the money between the two brothers and the younger one set off. His dreams became a reality until the gold ran out. Famine hit the land and the only job he could get was mucking out pigs. Hunger gnawed until he was on the point of eating the pigs’ swill. As he dipped his hands into the trough, suddenly a picture of ‘home’ flashed before his eyes. There was Father, overseeing the farm; all was plenty and prosperity. The whole family sat at tables loaded with good food; even the servants were abundantly provided for, and he — the youngest son of the house — was about to eat the pigs’ swill and was almost dying.
With startling, long overdue insight, he saw what a good father he had had. How patient and loving he was, and a great longing rose up within him to see this father once more. He went back the way he had come, with the picture of the father always spurring him on, until rounding a bend, he caught his first glimpse of ‘home’, way off in the distance. But it’s not only home, there’s a tall, well-known figure coming nearer, ever nearer, running to meet him. It is his father, with a face full of compassion, embracing him and holding him close.
‘I don’t deserve to be called your son. I’ve sinned against heaven, and against you. Father . . .’ But the father doesn’t want to hear any more. It’s a hot bath and the best suit and shoes to be brought out for his long-lost son. There’s the family ring, which shows you belong, to be slipped on his finger and the house is soon filled with the smell of roast meat, from the calf which they’ve been fattening up for this very day. The musicians burst into melody, the dancers take the floor and the welcome feast begins!
All this time the oldest brother, who has been working hard coming home tired in the evening, learns that all this fuss is because ne’er-do-well has come home again. That swindler, rogue and playboy is getting all the attention and he — the ‘good boy’– is not noticed at all. The father is amazed when he hears that he won’t come in, and even goes out to persuade him. At his son’s accusations of him being stingy, a slave driver and hard, the father replies, ‘But all I own belongs to you. You could have had a party anytime you wanted, but you never even bothered. It’s right for us to be glad because your lost brother is found again.’
Both brothers had a different picture of their father. The elder one was like a self- righteous, duty-fulfilling religious person (or even a born-again Christian) who is perhaps trying to impress God by good works and church-going, but his relationship with God is shallow and cold.
He scorns the joy of those who find forgiveness and come out of the dregs of sin, forgetting that it was for those very people that Jesus came. He complains that God doesn’t answer his prayers, when many of the things he is asking for are his for the taking — through Calvary.
(Taken from their book “Winning over Worry” by George and Helen Jesze, Chapter 8)
Prayer: Dear God, you are not just our God, but our Heavenly Father. Change our thinking by your Holy Spirit, and give us a revelation of your Father’s heart brimming over with love for your children, seeking to save us, heal every wound and build this heart-certainty into us, that despite what picture we might have of a father or whatever negative experiences or memories we might have from our earthly father, your love is constant, unchanging and unconditional. Wrap your arms around all my friends today who are in pain, vulnerable, standing in front of seemingly impossible situations and come with solutions and guidance, and let peace flood their hearts and minds, we pray. In the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
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