Articles
Return to Me
Return to Me
The prophet Zechariah opens his message to the Jews who returned from Babylonian exile:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Return to Me,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘that I may return to you.’”
In any strained relationship, there is usually enough blame to go around. A worker was fired for negligence, but perhaps the boss didn’t fully explain expectations. A driver caused a collision when he pulled out into traffic, but perhaps the other driver was speeding and recklessly changing lanes. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a marital spat where 100% of the blame rested on one spouse entirely. Because no human is perfect, it’s always 25/75 or 40/60 or likely 50/50. There’s always room for both parties to give a little ground and say sorry to achieve reconciliation. It’s like that famous old country song from Diamond Rio,
I'd start walkin' your way, you'd start walkin' mine / We'd meet in the middle, 'neath that old Georgia pine / We'd gain a lot of ground, 'cause we'd both give a little / There ain't no road too long when we meet in the middle…
But, when it comes to man’s broken relationship to God, no fraction of the blame rests on God. He says through Zechariah, “YOU return to Me.” God has done nothing wrong. God has no reason to repent.
Have you heard the story about the two fishermen, loading their gear into their little rowboats early one morning? It was so foggy they could barely see. As the first fisherman was arranging his gear along the gunwales, he suddenly noticed his partner was a long way off, barely discernable in the fog. He called out, “Hey, watch out buddy, you’re floating off.” The second fisherman replied, without looking up from his work, “You watch out. I haven’t moved!” The first replied, “Well if you’d pay attention, you’d see that you’ve drifted many yards away from me.” The second shot back, “I’m standing on the dock. YOU are the one who is drifting!”
Any time you sense that a gap has opened between you and God, you are the one who has done the drifting! We are always the rowboat, and God is the shore. Let us learn to address our estrangement from God (Isa. 59:2) by repenting of our sins quickly, so that we can rest in God’s presence once again.
How amazing, then, to realize that, in Christ, God is the one taking steps to close the
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).
Jesus Christ, the completely innocent one, the injured party, did not stand there, hands on hips, waiting for us to return. He sought healing for our relationship. He provided what we could not and would not, a sacrifice to atone for our sins. Though estrangement was totally our fault, through His gift, “we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:11). Like Hosea in the Old Testament, whose wife cheated on him, yet who went out searching for her and who purchased her back out of slavery, so Christ shed His blood to set us free from sin.
We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 2:13-14).
--John Guzzetta
