{"id":7211,"date":"2021-08-20T15:34:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T05:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=7211"},"modified":"2021-08-20T15:34:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T05:34:30","slug":"return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/return\/","title":{"rendered":"Return"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Return<\/strong>: A Contemplation on the Prodigal Son<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated from a sermon by Fr Daoud Lamei<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I only want one thing from you, to return. Return without\nsaying anything. Don\u2019t think that there is punishment for your past, it will be\nwiped away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet don\u2019t think that there aren\u2019t any consequences. There\nare still consequences. I can\u2019t take back the heartbreak. I can\u2019t take back the\nmoney that was lost. I can\u2019t take back the disrespect. I can\u2019t take back your\nlapse in judgement.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of it all, it doesn\u2019t change My Love for you. I\nonly want one thing – for you to return and enjoy the pleasures of being My\nchild. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing displeases the heart of the Lord more than knowing\nthat you are upset or uncomfortable. There is only one way out \u2013 to return to\nHis loving embrace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you still rebel from the Lord, and it only leads to a\ndownward spiral from there. So many parents can relate to this with their own\nchildren. Do you think a parent can bare to see their children as slaves of the\nworld? They are slaves to cigarettes, to alcohol, to sexual desires. They even\nallow themselves to become slaves to their job and the love of money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our God is very rich and gives openly to His children, so\nthen why be a slave to the world? Who can hear you like God? Who can give you\nlike God can? You\u2019re sitting at home tired and stressed, but it all comes down\nto one thing. Return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone thinks that when they do return, they will be met\nwith harsh discipline and condemnation for their mistakes. There is nothing of\nthis with the Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing that breaks the heart of God is when we were\nin His church, in His house, serving His people, and yet, we have moments of\nweakness when we fight with Him and treat Him as if He were oppressing us.\nIsn\u2019t that what the older brother did to his father? He says, \u201cthese many\nyears I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any\ntime.\u201d<\/em>\u2013 Luke 15:29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are just like the older brother. I have been serving\nyou so many years and I pray to You. Why is this happening to me? How could YOU\ngive me tribulation?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, trials are love and benevolence from the Lord. Sometimes\nman has the audacity to accuse God of being harsh and oppressive. We think He\nis not just. Sometimes the religious man accuses God of displaying favouritism\ntoward the non-religious. He questions that maybe he should\u2019ve gone down the\nwrong path so that God would be with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, This is a favour from our Lord. The day that God\ncomes to give you a crown of blessing, you can no longer stand the discomfort?\nYou yell at God and you make Him out to be harsh. You think that He doesn\u2019t\nunderstand. You accuse God of wrong doing. Sometimes you accuse God that He\nisn\u2019t even there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God replies that He has always been by our side. You don\u2019t\nhave any right to accuse God of any wrongdoing. All rights belong to God. All\nthe wisdom is with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet God remains silent. As if He were the One in the wrong.\nHe is the accused. He is guilty. God is always right in what He does. As the\npsalmist said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat You may be found just when You speak,
\nAnd blameless when You judge<\/em>.\u201d \u2013 Psalm 51:4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything He says is truth. Nothing can sadden God more\nthan the heart that is hardened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brother of the prodigal son questioned his father. How\ncould his father accept his son after he had hardened his heart against him? He\nquestioned his father\u2019s judgement and authority, he was not moved by love in\nthe same way his father was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God tells us that we should be happy when those that once\ndwelled in sin return. Sometimes, it is almost like we wanted to see those that\nwere once far from God suffer for their sins. This is not in the nature of God.\nHe asks us, \u201cwhy can\u2019t you take after Your Father and forgive as I forgive\nyou?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes many Christians are waiting to see the day sinners\nare repaid for their wrongdoing. God looks at their hearts and says, \u201cwhere\ndid you get this harshness from? It doesn\u2019t come from Me! I am waiting for the\nday that they repent.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God waits for all of them to return, and see heaven. But why\nare our hearts hardened toward the sinners? If the one does wrong to you once,\nwe wait for the day that they are repaid for their wrongdoing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why all this enmity? God answers us quite simply, \u201cyour\nbrother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found<\/em>.\u201d \u2013 Luke\n15:32. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should be joyful at the return of a sinner. God is\nsaddened by the harshness of our hearts that we cannot even withstand\nwrongdoing done against us. Every time someone does something wrong against\nyou, think of yourself as a child of God. In this sense, they have not wronged\nyou but they have wronged God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet God remains silent, the same way He is when we do wrong.\nWhy are we so vocal? Your heart is different to the heart of God. How sad is\nGod\u2019s heart when He sees those that think they know Him, but their hearts are\nnot like His. They are hearts of stone and unforgiving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was about your ultimate return. On the day that your\nbrother returns, come and be joyful with God. Don\u2019t break the heart of God on\nthe day of His greatest joy. Come and be joyful with the Lord, and do not\nretain the sins against you, \u201cfor your brother was dead and is alive again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return: A Contemplation on the Prodigal Son Translated from a sermon by Fr Daoud Lamei I only want one thing from you, to return. Return without saying anything. Don\u2019t think that there is punishment for your past, it will be wiped away. Yet don\u2019t think that there aren\u2019t any consequences. There are still consequences. I … Continue reading “Return”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7213,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7211\/revisions\/7213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}