Day 12: Forever Chosen
Everyone shows up.
All are standing before JESUS in a crowd.
You are hidden as no one sees you.
People have trampled over you to get
in the front of the line
No one hears you as you stand with slumped shoulders.
And then it happens in the midst of everyone raising their hands and shouting~
"Pick me JESUS! Pick me JESUS!"
All those who never believed in HIM.
All those who now are faced with their eternal destiny.
And then JESUS lifts HIS scarred hands and points HIS finger.
“You mean me JESUS”, as everyone thinks it is them.
And HE says,
I PICK YOU.
You slowly look up and it is you JESUS is pointing at.
You start walking forward.
The crowd is silent as they are thinking
"You picked HER. Don’t you know what she has done?"
BUT you keep walking forward
It was worth every step.
It was worth every cruel word.
It was worth every injustice.
To stand before JESUS and be picked
Because you Picked HIM
To be chosen to come into HIS kingdom.
It is you who HE sees.
It is the you and me who HE always saw.
even in the midst of those
moments
when temptation got the best of you
when you were clothed with shame
when you doubted in fear.
when you felt so ashamed to look up,
yet HE immediately wrapped HIS FORGIVING arms
around you
the moment you
answered HIS call.
HE calls the PRODIGAL~
“Truly, truly, I say to you,
whoever hears MY word and believes HIM
who sent ME has eternal life.
HE does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24)
And the PRODIGAL has a choice.
The same choice because GOD calls all.
Oh that day will come.
That one day when you & I will stand
and we will see
JESUS standing
With HIS HANDS opened wide
To receive
The guilty
The shamed
The bitter
The fearful
The _________,
But
Not because of the good you or I did.
Not because of the better than he or she you or I did,
but because
I am just a PRODIGAL
living in a place that is not my home
as it is a place I don't belong~
"For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come" (Hebrews 13:14)
I am just a PRODIGAL~
"Yielding Abundantly"*
to
another world
because
"For we [believers will be called to account and] must
all appear before the judgment seat of CHRIST,
so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body,
whether good or bad [that is, each will be held responsible for
his actions, purposes, goals, motives—
the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities]"
(2 Corinthians 5:10 AMP)
because I am a PRODIGAL who does not fit into this world.
I appear to be
rebellious
close minded
uncompromising
when actually
I am just a PRODIGAL
according to Merriam-Webster*~
"Joyously Unrestrained and Enthusiastic"
"Exuberant"
"Extreme or Excessive"
because
IN CHRIST
how can I not be
&
how can you not be
an outcast to this world~
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow ME. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for ME and for the gospel will save it.
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
If anyone is ashamed of ME and MY words
in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the SON of MAN will be ashamed of them
when HE comes in HIS FATHER'S glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38)
Oh the LIFE OF A PRODIGAL~
"Yielding Abundantly"
to the ONE who leaves the 99 to find the 1~
"And if it turns out that he finds it, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost.
So it is not the will of your FATHER who is in heaven that one of these little ones be lost"(Matthew 18:13-14)
Oh the LIFE OF PRODIGAL~HOMEWARD BOUND FOREVER
just because
"THIS I BELIEVE" (listen to the song below)