Return To Me Declares The Lord

"Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts."
Zechariah 1:3

Everything God does is based in relationship. He desires relationship with you. He seeks it out. When you look at the theme for the Bible, it's a book built upon relationship - God's relationship with man.

In the Old Testament, Israel constantly strayed from God. They turned their back on Him and ran from Him. They consistently pursued foreign gods and built for themselves idols. Throughout the Bible, God sends prophets to call them back to relationship with Him.

We are not much different than the Israelites. We create our own idols and chase after other gods. The gods of our culture are lust, envy and pride. We are a self-centered people with a jealous bent in our heart for wanting things that are not ours.

The message to us is the same message that God gave the Israelites, return to me. In other words, as Jesus would say, repent. Turn around and come back to me. This is the message of the gospel. Jesus died for our sins to restore relationship. You only need to return to Him and God is waiting for you with open arms like the Father of the Prodigal Son.

What keeps us from returning to Him? Many times its a false sense of who He really is. We tend to think that if we return to God we are getting punished. He's going to pull out his belt and we are in serious trouble. We look at God like He is crouching behind the bush ready to jump on us once we turn toward Him. This is not the case at all.

In our verse today, we see that if we return to God, he returns to us. He is waiting on us to turn towards Him and he comes running down the road with arms outstretched. He doesn't make us jump through a bunch of hoops. All we have to do is return to Him.

So where is your heart today? Have you wandered from Him? Have you taken your own path and walked far away from Him? No matter where you are, He is there. He is ready to receive you into his open arms, all you need to do is return to Him.

Prayer - Father, thank you for being a good father who loves us and cares for us. Lord, we turn our hearts back toward you today. We love you and thank you for being so loving and gracious toward us. Thank you God. Amen.