God Rejoices When We Get it Right.

Smile! God loves you.

I always look forward to the children’s sermon every Sunday. Whoever the lucky member of our clergy happens to be, is usually in for a surprise. I’m sure he or she puts a lot of planning into the little message and tries to anticipate how the children may answer the questions posed to them. But, it’s  always a huge gamble when dealing with children. Like Forrest Gump said, “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

There is a particular little guy, named Hunter, who always raises his hand and always asks lots of questions and tells lots of stories. He’s five and there’s not a shy bone in his body. Once, the pastor asked him if he would like to help and preach the morning’s sermon. I don’t think it occurred to him that Hunter would say, yes. He did and then the pastor had to gently explain to him that he was just kidding.

This Sunday after the children’s sermon as the kids went off to children’s church, Hunter forgot something in his pew in the back of the church. He went to retrieve it and then went running to the door to catch up with the others. He fell with a loud thump. The entire congregation gasped collectively as the mom in the pew closest to him, scrambled over to check on him.

After no more than a couple of seconds, he popped up and gave the congregation a smiling thumbs up and yelled out, “I’m alright!” Everyone burst out into laughter and a few folks clapped for him as he headed out the door. It really struck me at that moment, how as a congregation, we all care about our children. For just a moment, we were fearful for him, but then rejoiced with him when he recovered.

I think Jesus feels just like that about us when we fall, both physically and spiritually. He tells us in a parable in the Book of Luke, about a woman who has ten coins, but loses one. She  searches all over the house until she finds it and when she finds it, she calls her neighbors and asks them to rejoice with her. “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” Luke 15:10

What does that mean? It means when we mess up, and we all mess up, there is rejoicing in heaven, when we make it right. God wants us to ask for forgiveness, get up and keep going. The very next parable Jesus tells is the Prodigal Son which really should be called the Loving Father.

When the son asks for his inheritance, the father gives it to him. When he loses all of it on partying, think: drinking and chasing women, he goes home and humbly asks his father if he can work as a servant for him. Does the father start lecturing and say, “I told you so?” Nope. He throws him a party. He rejoices. It’s not about the wayward son. It’s about the all loving and all forgiving father.

So, wherever we are, no matter how far we have wandered off the path to God, we can always turn it around. There are no exceptions to this rule. If we ask for forgiveness, God will welcome us back with open arms. There will be rejoicing in heaven. Now there’s a scenario that makes me smile and gives me hope. How about you?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂