But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and all your soul. – Deuteronomy 4:29
It was time for Moses to give one of his final speeches to the Israelites as they were getting ready to cross over into the promised land. God had told him he would not be going with them, and he wanted to be sure that they remembered all that they had learned about God during their exodus from Egypt and desert wanderings. He implored them to always remember the Lord their God. He reminded them that things would go well for them if they were careful not to turn away from him and warned them that if they did, there would be consequences. Then he gave them an important reminder that is a principle that still applies to us today – even when they do mess up, they will never be too far away to turn back to God.
When we make the decision to follow Jesus, it is a life journey. Although we receive salvation in that one moment – we have a whole lifetime of moments that will involve making choices to follow him. Sometimes the pull of our old self will be too strong and before we know it we will find ourselves living a life that doesn’t resemble the one God intended for us to be living. Chances are we had reminders along the way to stay the course, but the more we ignored them the less we heard them. Now our hearts are hardened, and we fear that the distance we’ve created between us and God is impassable. But thanks be to God that he has promised to never leave us or forsake us. He is waiting with open arms for us to return to him. All we need to do is make the decision to stop in our tracks and turn around. (Repent!) The moment we turn around and seek him he has promised that we will find him!
Know this – no one is too far gone to receive God’s forgiveness! No one is too messed up to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ! With whatever tiny little mustard seed of faith you can muster, just look up to God and tell him you’re sorry. He will forgive you and welcome you home with a heavenly embrace!
Jesus told a story of a prodigal son that perfectly illustrates the fact that we can always come home. (Luke 15:11-32)
I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you…So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father way him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him…We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!” – Luke 15:18, 20, 32