But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him…
(Luke 15:20)

To God, there is no lowest point. You can sink deeper into mistakes and humiliation, lost opportunities and despair, feeling that you have reached rock-bottom with the weight of it all pressing down on you.

You might even find a way to delve further below that bedrock of errors and loss of self-worth and the depression it brings to the point that you no longer feel human. You feel like gum that has been chewed, sucked dry and spat out, and then got stuck under a shoe, scraped off and thrown away again.

To God, you can keep going lower than that but he will still keep waiting for you. No matter how long it takes, his eyes will keep glancing out the window, wondering where you are.

Here is a great mystery: Before we stray, God has already forgiven us. Even before we get to the crossroad of decision, he has already forgiven any wrong choice we might make.

Love is first patient, before it is other things, someone once pointed out to me referring to the classic wedding reading in 1 Corinthians 13. If God is love, then his patience with us has no limit.

Think of the story of the prodigal son that left home, wasted his father’s money, ended up dead broke and wanting to eat pig’s food. Eventually, the son “came to his senses” and decided to run back home to his father and was welcomed as if the family had just won billions in the lottery.

His father hugged him, dressed him up and had a party. No record whatsoever of how he had insulted his father and wasted away.

You are forgiven even before you stray, just like the son was forgiven. It’s just up to you to find the courage to turn back and head home. Getting home, you will find that God is not waiting with a sacred rod of punishment but hugs, kisses and new clothes.

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