God says please

I’ve had this picture in my head all week, a father at the gate of his home, pleading for his son to come in.

When the older son refused to come into the party, his father went out and pleaded with him. Luke 15:28

The father pleaded.

Shocking in the middle Eastern culture which is the setting but even more shocking when we realise that the father represents God.

God pleads with us.

“Please come in”.

Of course, God could have called in angel armies to force us but he chose another way. He calls to us in wild waterfalls and cascading birdsong, through the gift of an unsettled conscience and through our deep thirst for him. This is why, he kept on pleading to his people through his prophets and why when they were ignored, he sent his son.

“Please come in”.

God came in Christ to say, “Don’t stay outside, there is a way in. Here is the gate. It’s open”.

Christ is the Gate which is called Beautiful. In Tauler’s words, Christ is the way into “the heart of the Father…the treasure-chamber of God.”

Jesus calls himself the Way, the Gate and the Door. Could it be clearer? Paul describes Christ as the veil torn so that we can enter the Holy of Holies.

“Please come in”, says God.

How will we reply? The older son in Luke 15 was jealous and angry and we don’t know whether he ever responded to his father’s plea.

Even for us who know God is our father, there are two ways to live - on the outskirts, holding back or responding to the Father’s heart and entering in.

It is the greatest joy of ministering in different places when I see people realise that God really wants them near him.

Your heavenly father, who loves you so much more than you know, is pleading with you to come in.

What will you say?