Take words with you,
And return to the
Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all
iniquity;
Receive us
graciously,
For we will offer
the sacrifices of our lips.
Assyria shall not
save us,
We will not ride on
horses,
Nor will we say anymore
to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
For in You the
fatherless finds mercy.”
“I will heal their
backsliding,
I will love them
freely, (Hosea 14:2-4 NKJV)
He said to him again
a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”
He said to Him,
“Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him,
“Tend My sheep.” (John
The causes of backsliding are many. We have pretended to be living a more devoted life than was actually the case; we neglected to watch unto prayer; we allowed secret sin to eat out the heart of our piety, as the white ant works destruction in the East; or we yielded to temptation, and then sought to justify ourselves against the remorse of conscience; or we yielded to the fear of man, and drifted with the multitude to do evil; or we became prosperous, and trusted only in our wealth; or poor, and succumbed to covetousness and the bitterness of despair.
The world
despises the fallen, and does not believe in the possibility of entire
restoration. It is always suspicious of those who have fallen from their high
estate; the prisoner in the cell, who was once an honored financier; the
beautiful woman who has come under the degrading influence of alcohol or drugs;
the minister or doctor who has incurred shame and disgrace, all such find it
hard to be reinstated. But God stoops over the outcast with infinite compassion
and love, and promises forgiveness and restoration to all who will return to
Him.
It was in
that way our Lord dealt with Peter. He knew that in spite of his grievous fall,
there was a strong undercurrent of devoted love, and He did not hesitate to
entrust to him the care of His sheep and lambs. In a certain museum there is a
lovely marble statue which was found broken into hundreds of pieces. The
fragments were carefully collected, and with infinite patience fitted together.
Finally a seemingly impossible task was accomplished, and the statue stands in
all its original completeness and beauty. So the Lord Jesus will take the
broken pieces of any life that will come to Him, and with His skilful and
tender touch will remake it into something useful and beautiful in His service.
This is the meaning of redemption. The one thing that Christ asks of any of us
is that we should follow Him. Whether we can walk, or need to be carried;
whether life is young within us, or waning, let us follow Him, love Him, obey
Him, and He will turn back our backslidings, and never mention them again.
PRAYER
Heavenly
Father, we would be Yours; let us never fall away from You. I pray in Jesus'
name, AMEN.
God's Daily Promise
Promise #279:
I have chosen you to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
1 Peter 2:9 (WEB)
But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for God’s own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him
who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light:
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