Now This Is Living!
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16:11
The younger son had spent enough time away from home to know that the life he went looking for had not delivered what it promised. He had wanted freedom and something more than the life he knew within the boundaries of his father’s house. Yet when we find him at the end of the story in Luke 15, he is walking the familiar road home. There, in the place he once wanted to leave behind, he discovers what he had been searching for all along.
Life was with his father.
Maybe that is one of the quiet discoveries we make as we find our own way back to God. We may come looking for forgiveness, help, or another chance, and God certainly gives us those things. But He gives us something even better. He gives us Himself.
Life with God is not meant to be another obligation added to an already full schedule. Scripture, prayer, worship, and time in His presence are invitations to know the One who already knows us completely. They create space for us to remember His goodness and become more aware of His presence in the ordinary rhythms of our days. As we spend time with the Father, His heart begins to shape ours, and that changes not only our relationship with Him but also the way we see the people He has placed around us.
When the younger son came home, he did not return only to his father. He returned to a household. He belonged to a family again, and when God brings us home, we do too.
It is easy to think about Christian community primarily in terms of what we hope to find there. We need encouragement and people who will pray for us. We need someone willing to listen or show up when life gets difficult. Those are good gifts of community, but they are not the whole of it. Community is not only about what we receive. God may also use it to ask something of us.
Sometimes the person in front of us needs patience when we feel like we have very little left. Someone may need our time when giving it is inconvenient. We may be given an opportunity to listen, forgive, encourage, share what we have, or simply remain present when walking away would be easier. These moments can feel like they are emptying us, but they may also be some of the very places where God is forming us.
Christian community, then, is not only a place where we bring our cup to be filled. It is also a place where we learn to pour ourselves out for someone else. We can do that because we were never meant to be the source. As we give ourselves away, Christ continues to supply what we need. His love becomes the love we extend to others, and His strength meets us when our own feels insufficient. The life He pours into us was never intended to stop with us.
You may already have more to give than you realize. God has placed things in your hands that can be used for someone else’s good: your time, your home, something you know how to do well, your resources, or the ability to sit beside someone and listen. Even a painful chapter of your story may become a source of encouragement for someone walking through a similar season. None of these things are insignificant when we allow God to use them.
This is part of the full life Jesus invites us into. We enjoy our relationship with the Father, share our lives with His people, and allow what He has given us to flow outward for the good of others.
Up. In. Out.
The younger son once believed life was waiting for him somewhere beyond his father’s house. Coming home showed him something different. The life he had been searching for was with his father all along. Perhaps finding our way back to God is not simply discovering where we belong. It is learning, day by day, what it means to truly live there.
Reflect
Where have you experienced the goodness of simply being with God lately?
Are you approaching Christian community mostly with a desire to receive, or are you also looking for opportunities to give?
What has God placed in your hands in this season that could become a gift to someone else?
Is there someone around you who may need something God has already given you?
Prayer
Father, thank You that life with You is more than an obligation. It is a relationship I get to enjoy. Help me recognize Your presence in the ordinary parts of my days and allow Your heart to shape mine. Open my eyes to the people You have placed around me. Show me what You have already put in my hands, and teach me to give it freely. When loving and serving others costs me something, remind me that I do not pour from my own strength. Keep filling me with Your love so that Your love can flow through me to others. Amen.
