​“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:31-32 NIV)
 
Last week I looked at the four responses of the older brother (I've always served you, I've never disobeyed you, you've never given me anything and 'but this son of yours'). Today I want to look at how the father in the story responds. 
 
He actually treats both his sons in the same way. He goes out to meet them and invites them to come home. The younger son responds but we're not sure what happens to the older son - the end of story is left open. Maybe it's left open to make us think of our own response. Though we don't like to admit it, we're like the older son in many ways and have as much need of a homecoming as the younger son. 
 
The father tells him two important things which we would do well to listen to: "You are always with me and everything I have is yours". I believe the Father says the same things to us. In the story, the older son couldn't receive it and my question for us is "can we?". Do you know that the Father is always with you? Everything that is his is yours too. I invite you to let these words of the Father sink into your heart; as they do, the servant-hearted responses of the older brother will begin to fade away. 

​“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!" (Luke 15:28-30 NIV)
 
When we read the story of the lost sons we tend to concentrate on the younger son with his rebellion and then his homecoming. We identify with him as there is so much that is familiar to our own journey. Whenever we think of the older son we tend to point the finger at other people rather than look at ourselves. For a moment, therefore, I want us to look at our own heart and see how we respond in the same way as the older brother. He too was lost. Although he lived in his father's house he behaved like a servant - he was not home. 
 
In these few verses he responds in four ways to the invitation to join the party and welcome his brother home. 
 
His responses are: I've always served you, I've never disobeyed you, you've never given me anything and 'but this son of yours'. How telling they are! As we stop and think, we can see how they very often mirror our own response. We may not be so aggressive as the older brother but we often feel justified because we have always tried to do the right thing, as a servant rather than a son. Interestingly, it's the last response that is the most telling. The older brother doesn't see the return of a brother but rather the father's son - he's distancing himself and then proceeds to make assumptions and accusations. How does he know how his brother spent the inheritance? (we're not told in the story). 
 
All too often we do the same thing. Our self-righteous servant heart leads us to make judgments and accusations which show that our heart has not found its home. Next week I shall look at how the Father responds to his eldest son, because, he too, needed to come home. 

​Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 NIV)
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Last week I looked at the cycle of shame that so easily takes a hold of us. I ended with the powerful antidote to shame “The Father himself loves you”. 
 
Our Father wants us to be free, he does not want us to be held in any prison be it shame, unforgiveness, bitterness or sin. Not only does he want us to be free but he made it possible, by providing the way, for us to be really free and to live in freedom. Paul describes it as the ‘glorious freedom of the sons of God’ (Romans 8:21). 
 
It was for freedom that we were set free. We are released from the power of shame and therefore those nagging questions do not need to worm their way into our heart. As we walk in our freedom we discover that there is nothing more I must do, nothing more I must have and nothing more I must become. 
 
We are in Christ, that is our true home and, for each of us, that is a place of freedom. Freedom, by the way, is not the right to do as we please but rather being totally dependent on our Father as we live by the Spirit of life.

​In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. (Psalm 25:1–3 NIV).
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We’ve all done things, we do things and no doubt we’ll continue doing things that we immediately regret. All too often, when we feel the first stirring of that regret, there is a little lie that seeks to get inside our heart. It doesn’t really start off as a lie but rather as an innocent question which soon grows into the lie. 
 
The question is “why did you do that?” or “there you go again”. Immediately there is an opportunity for condemnation and guilt to land in our heart. Then the question grows: “you did that again”, “look at you, you’re not very good are you?”, “you’ve failed again”, “you’re a failure”, “because you’ve failed, you’re not a good person” Before long it’s grown into “you’re not loveable and therefore you’re not loved”. 
 
What started off as doubt soon becomes a blanket of shame that we pull over ourselves and which causes us to hide. Once it grabs us the cycle of shame begins: there is something more I must do, there is something more I must have, there is something more I must become.
 
Rather than letting those regrets sink you, can I encourage you to remind yourself of this powerful truth “The Father himself loves you” (John 16:27)

​Although it seems an impossible task it is truly possible for us to live in love. Living in love is simply us being the recipients of the love that flows from the Father. He pours that love into our heart through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). What he does therefore is pour himself into our heart so his nature, character and personality fill us and begin to change us from the inside out. We think it's the other way - that we change ourselves through our own actions or beliefs. Yet it is love which is the biggest transforming power in the universe. As we are transformed by love we will become more like our elder brother, Jesus. 
 
In Exodus 33, Moses is having a conversation with God about how he is to lead the people. Firstly he asks who is going to help him, then he wants to learn God's ways and finally he realises it's all about God's presence going with him. When he sees that, he almost breathes an audible sigh of relief "if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exodus 33:15). Once he knows God's presence is with him he then has the confidence to see his glory. In doing so he gets a glimpse of the nature and character of God (Exodus 34:6-7). 
 
When Jeremiah wrote Lamentations he was not having a good time. He is miserable and depressed, he has lost hope and everything has become too much for him. How often do we feel like that? It is at his low point that he remembers something, and as he does it gives him hope. His life returns as he remembers the most important thing - he is loved. 
 
"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'the Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him'". (Lamentations 3:20-24 NIV)
 
It is possible to live in love because we are not relying on something that we have to produce. We rely on the steadfast, unchanging nature of the One who is love. His love never changes nor will it ever let us down. That is what can give you hope today.

​O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8 NASB)
 
Last week I started a discussion on choosing life. We have a choice and whilst love draws us in one direction we are completely free to decide our own response. Yet, the deeper we go and the more we journey with Father the less it seems like a decision, rather it feels like the obvious thing to do. Our heart longs for home, there is something inside of us that can't help but lean towards home. 
 
When we've seen and experienced the goodness of the Lord there is no other place we want to be than in his presence. Yes, we all make mistakes but those mistakes never disqualify us. Yes, we all need a second (and maybe a third) chance but that's ok; there's always a deeper homecoming for us to experience. 
 
So let's choose life and begin to walk as Jesus walked. 
 
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:9-11 NASB)

​I believe we are faced with a daily choice to choose life. It's generally not our default setting nor is it necessarily an automatic one. The choice before us is stark: dependence on our Father will lead us into life whereas our independence will cause something inside of us to die.
 
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it…… So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. (Deut 30:15-20 NASB)
 
Every choice we make has consequences. In Psalm 27 the psalmist shows us the decision he makes "this is what I seek, to dwell in the house of the Lord forever" and then records for us the consequence (or blessing) of that choice "I shall look on the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (v 13). 
 
One of the greatest expressions of love is the gift of choice, or the freedom to make choices, some of which may be good and some not so good! Love has to give a choice otherwise it becomes controlling, manipulative and automated. Without choice, love would lack its heart; in fact, without choice love would not be love. 
 
Not only does love provide us with a choice but it also provides us with a way home. There is always the opportunity for us to return. The cords of eternal love are wrapped around us and, rather than taking us prisoner, they draw us (or woo) us back into the Father's arms and embrace. 
 
It's a choice we face, not a command. The Father places a desire in our heart and as we respond to it we discover life (and as Jesus said: Life in all its fulness).

​He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. (Revelation 21:5-7)
 
Typically, at the start of a new year we make resolutions. Things we want to change or do, maybe the way we want to live differently. But how long do these resolutions last? If we’re honest, our good intentions soon lapse and are forgotten. 
 
Here we have a promise that will stand for all eternity. Everything has been made new through the work of Jesus, because of his death and resurrection. 
 
I know we all face challenges and sometimes life is not easy. I know we all struggle with things that we feel have been with us forever. Often it feels like we live with a contradiction: the competing forces of our new life in Christ with the struggle against the old orphan-hearted way we used to live.  
 
If we make any new year resolution, may it be to gaze upon the One whose promise stands for all eternity. He has made everything new and if we desire more then he will satisfy the longing of our heart, simply because he is our Father and we are his children.

​For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV)
 
This week we celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us! It's a pivotal moment in history. God sends his son as a man, someone who will live amongst us and be one of us. We should not underestimate the significance of this. God who created the universe, the All Powerful One steps into humanity in the form of his son, Jesus.
 
This tells us so much. Firstly, that God is not put off by the mess of humanity; he is willing to step into the mess in order to sort it out. Secondly, he steps into the mess because he wants relationship with us; something that was lost in the garden. In fact, the relationship he desires is much more than a functional one, it's to bring us back into his family as his sons and daughters.
 
This is a moment of wondrous celebration. It’s so much more than the presents and feasting. It’s more than the family gatherings, as great as they are. It’s the celebration of “God with us” – the reconciliation of God with man. The coming of the only man who can take us back home to the Father.

​That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3 NIV)
 
John writes this letter towards the end of his life, as he looks back and reflects he seems to have one overriding emphasis that he wants his readers to understand. He wants us to see that our relationship with God is deeply rooted in love. 
 
What he describes for us is a relationship. He describes something he has heard, seen and touched. He writes about an experience and it is that which he wants us (his readers) to imbibe. The climax of his letter is chapter four, verse sixteen where he makes a simple statement which is probably one of the most powerful statements ever said. In those three words he sums up the nature, personality and character of God and also allows it to define the way we can relate to him. 
 
"God is love".
 
Simple, yet powerful. These three words sum up the way in which John has come to know God, the Father. Our relationship is not based on performance, trying to do the right thing, following every aspect of the law. No, we simply become beneficiaries of the love that flows from the Godhead. We are made complete in love, love does not carry any of the fear associated with the law. We can come as children to our Father.
 
John has learned to live like Jesus lived. Embraced in love, living in the love of the Father, relying and trusting in the experience of being loved. His encouragement for us is to live the same way. The love of the Father is not something we understand with our mind, it is something we live in - we experience it. As we do it will transform every area of our lives.