Come home to Jesus

Think about a time when you were really in trouble. You got lost at the mall, broke your leg falling out of a tree or ran away from home and came back. You knew you had done something wrong that got you into a jam, but your parents didn't worry about that at first. They made sure you were okay -- THEN maybe they yelled at you!

In a way, Jesus did the same thing for the whole world. In this week's Gospel (John 3:14-21), we hear about it:

"God loved the world so much," said Jesus, "that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him can live forever with God. God sent His Son into the world to save it, not to judge it. Whoever does bad things turns away from the light, but whoever does good comes toward the light, to God."

When you're in trouble, your parents are probably more scared than angry at first. They want to make you safe, to find you and bring you home or to the hospital, before they can even think about what you did wrong to cause the problem.

God feels the same way about us. In the Gospel story, Jesus told us that God loves us so much that even though we keep turning away from Him and doing things wrong, all God worries about is helping us to be safe and "come home" to Jesus again.

After your family makes sure you're safe, you probably get punished for wandering away at the mall or climbing too high in the tree. Once they're not so scared about you any more, they can let themselves get angry about your mistake, so you don't do it again.

God does that, too. God sent Jesus to show everyone how to stay close to Him. Jesus didn't come to yell at us; He came to help us be better people. Only after we've lived our whole lives do we go to God, who decides if we can live with Jesus in heaven forever.

The next time you're in trouble, remember what Jesus said: Turning away from doing the right thing is turning away from God -- and that scares God as much as it scares your family!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me remember that when I'm in trouble, you're always waiting to help me. Amen!

(03-06-97)

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