You Don't Have to Have It Together to Come Back to God

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Autumn Miles grew up a pastor's daughter. She knew all

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the right things to say, and she knew the stories and the

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language of faith. From the outside, her life looked exactly

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what it was supposed to look was in high school, she started

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dating a boy who seemed kind at first. He wasn't. By the time

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they got married, the cruelty had become routine. He threw

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food at her. He told her she was worthless. Then the abuse got

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worse. She ended up alone one night, trapped in a level of

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despair she hadn't known was

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surrounded by and she had never felt further from God in her

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life. She was contemplating suicide. Then she saw a Bible in

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the corner of the room. We'll get back to what happened

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first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm

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Bart Leger. Over the years, I've had people sit across from me

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and say something I've heard more times than I can count. You

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don't know what I've done. They say it when I tell them God will

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accept them just the way they are. They find it impossible to

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believe that God could receive them given what's in their past.

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I understand why that feeling's there. Because shame does

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something to us. just the way they are. They find it

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impossible to believe that God could receive them given what's

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in their past. I understand why that feeling's there, because

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shame does something to a person's theology. It convinces

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you that your case is the exception, that grace applies to

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everyone else, and what you've done is in a category of its own.

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But that's a lie, and it's a lie that keeps away from God far

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longer than they need to stay away. Here's what Jesus said

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about it in Luke 15, 17 through When he finally came to his

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senses, he said to himself, At home, even the hired servants

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have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger. I

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will go home to my father and say, Father, I have sinned

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against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being

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called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. So he

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returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way

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off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion,

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he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. The son in that

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story had made a wreck of his life. He had taken his

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inheritance early, burned through it on things he wasn't

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proud of, and ended up feeding pigs in a foreign country. He

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was broke and humiliated. And the plan he rehearsed on the way

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home was not, I'll clean myself up and then return. He came back

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with nothing resolved. He came back in the same clothes he'd

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been wearing in the pigpen with a speech that amounted I've

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ruined everything, and I have no claim on you. Please just let me

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be a That's when the father ran. He didn't wait for the son to

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finish the speech. He saw him coming from a long way off,

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which means he'd been watching the road. He ran to him,

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embraced him, and kissed him before a single word of apology

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was spoken. The son was probably still rehearsing his confession

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when the father was already calling for a celebration. That

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picture is the answer to the lie that you have to earn your way

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back. The father in this story is God, and God is not standing

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at the door with a checklist waiting to see if you've

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sufficiently cleaned yourself up before he'll let you in. He's

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watching the road and he sees you coming, and he's already

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moving toward you before you finish the sentence. Here's

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where a lot of people get it backward. They think the return

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to God is the reward they'll give themselves once they've

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gotten their life back together. They'll come back when they feel

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less ashamed and when the habit's broken. But that's not

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how it works. Coming back to God is how the getting right begins.

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The father didn't restore the son after he proved himself. He

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restored him the moment he showed up. Romans 5.8 puts it

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plainly.

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Did you hear that? While we were still sinners. He didn't wait

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for us to get presentable. That's the whole point of what

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Jesus did on the cross. It was done for people who had no claim

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on it. You don't have to get right before you come back.

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Coming back is where the getting right starts. Now, let's get to

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Autumn. Finally, Autumn filed for divorce. When her church

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found out, they asked her to leave the church. Finally, at

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rock bottom, Autumn seriously considered taking her own life.

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Then she saw a Bible in the corner of the room and opened it.

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She landed on Psalm

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Nobody knew what she'd been thinking about that night, but

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God did. She fell to the floor right there and asked Jesus to

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come into heart. She came with nothing resolved, nothing

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cleaned up. She had walked away from the faith she had grown up

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in and she had lost a marriage, a church family, and whatever

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confidence she had in herself. She came back with all of that

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still in pieces. She later said she had to humble herself from

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the pride of being a pastor's daughter and admit she didn't

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know how to pray or believe and she had to start from zero.

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That's where God met her, not after the recovery. He met her

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in the middle of the wreckage. And that's the pattern. The

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father ran while the son was still a long way off. God met

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Autumn on the floor with a Bible she'd barely opened. He doesn't

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wait for the mess to be cleaned up. He shows up in the middle of

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it. If you've been staying away because you think you have too

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much to answer 4, this is what I want you to hear. The son in

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that story had burned through his father's money and was

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covered in pig filth. God ran to him anyway. Your past doesn't

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change what the father does when he sees you on the road. Here's

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today's challenge. If there's distance between you and God

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right now, and you've been telling yourself you'll come

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back once you get things sorted out, close the distance today.

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You don't need spiritual sounding prayer, and you don't

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need to have anything figured out. The son came back with a

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rehearsed speech and didn't even get a chance to finish it. Just

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start wherever you are. God is already watching the road. Lord,

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you know the people listening today who feel like they've gone

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too far. You know the shame that's been keeping them away.

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Remind them that you ran to a son who was still covered in the

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mess of his own choices. Remind them that you met Autumn on the

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floor in the middle of her worst night. You don't wait for us to

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get it right. You meet us where we are and make us right. Thank

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you for that. In Jesus' name. Amen. This podcast runs on the

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slash support. Every contribution helps keeps these

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devotions coming every week. Thanks for joining me on Daily

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Devotions for Busy Remember, you don't have to get right before

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you come back. Coming back is where the getting right starts.

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Come back next time for more encouragement to help you live

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grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great

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day.