Saturday, March 14: Cheryl Tyson

Romans 6:17-18. But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

We have heard sin described as being separated from God; estranged; apart; lost. How much more compassionate and hopeful it is to view sin as being lost, instead of being evil. If lost, then how do we find God? Romans 6:17-18 answers that question.

This scripture instructs us to find God not through opening our mind to Him, but in opening our heart. It suggests that when we open our heart, we fall in love with God with such sweet abandon that He becomes part of us, His will and teachings become part of our nature.

But once this transformation occurs, is it complete? Do we never lose sight of God again? Unfortunately, no. But, God’s love for us is complete, unending. So, by sincerely “Asking our most merciful God to forgive us, we may delight in his will,” again, and again, and again.

We are never truly lost or estranged from our loving Father. For, as in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, when we return to our Heavenly Father with an open heart, he is waiting with open arms.

Lord, thank you for your unyielding love for us and for your gift of the confession of our sins as a path to find our way back to you. Amen. 

  —Cheryl Tyson

The Return of the Prodigal Son
Pompeo Batoni (1773)