Welcome to the Victory Blog

This past weekend, my wife Colleen brought a very moving word about God’s unrelenting love, forgiveness and reconciliation. If you missed it, you’ve got to hear it – listen to or watch it here. For now, here’s a bit of what she said to whet your appetite:

We all have a craving that goes much deeper than cravings for simpler things like food…it’s to be wanted, to be liked by someone else. We crave the sense of being wanted – I don’t mean in a sexual sense, but in the sense of knowing that we’re loved, accepted and valued for who we are. That’s something we all need, yet most of us didn’t grow up with it.

I wonder if you’re aware with an acute sense how much God wants you? If we could get that down in our hearts, it would radically transform our lives. But so many of us don’t get that. So, instead, we seek to fill that deep craving with all kinds of other things – food, sex, pornography, drugs, alcohol, music, Internet, Facebook or any number of other things. We look to the things the world claims will fill that need…but they don’t. They only distract us from what we really need and then heap on shame and guilt to try to keep us running from God.

Jesus talked about this in a story that he told about a wealthy father and his two sons. This story is known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son and can be found in Luke 15:11-32.

In this story, the younger son is disrespectful and unloving to his father, rebellious, selfishly motivated, prideful, foolish and wasteful. Yet in the end, he is confident in his father’s heart to treat him kindly.

The older son, while giving the outward appearance of being the “good son” is actually hypocritical, cynical, selfish and prideful. He thought love was something that was earned. He had no more love for the father than did the younger son.

Neither son truly understood the love and acceptance of their father. They represent us, and our two main responses to God, before we begin to understand his love. They are flipsides of the same coin – rebellion or religion – both are mankind’s broken responses to our complete underestimation of God’s love and acceptance.

The father in Jesus’ story was out there looking for and expecting his son – when his son finally returned, he recognized him a long way off. He didn’t wait at the door, but ran to him (how undignified!), sparing his son further shame, refusing to banish him as would have been customary, but instead, welcoming him with an outpouring of affection and reconciliation…and then a huge party. What a response!

Yet, should we be so shocked by the Father’s overjoyed reception of his son, considering that is the way God views us – not as despicable heathens but lost sons? This level of celebration makes sense when you consider that the ultimate purpose for Jesus leaving Heaven to come to earth was that this restoration and millions more just like it occur throughout the earth on a regular basis.

This is how much God, our heavenly father, longs for us, looks for us to return. His first response is compassion – even beyond what is reasonable. He is selfless, humble, willing to do anything to get his children back, unrelenting in his love, so focused on restoration that nothing else matters. He doesn’t even question about the past, but forgives over and over again!