Week 7—Wednesday Luke 15:16-20
Luke 15:16-20
“DOOMED TO BE A SAINT”
We ended yesterday on the affirmation that we are predestined to be Christian. This passage stresses: “Whom he . . . also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). There is an inner predestination to be conformed to be the moral and spiritual image of Jesus. That is the purpose and goal of our living. An African chief stood up in a meeting and said: “I’m doomed to be a saint.” I think he meant “destined.” He saw that there was a destiny in him, and it pointed toward being a “saint”—a Christian.
If what we are saying is true, then the material is made for the spiritual—the “flesh” is made for the Word. And when “the Word became flesh,” the Word was coming to his own. “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.” But whether they received him or not, it was “his own.” And not receiving him meant the doom of the people who did not receive him. A president of a technical college in Holland, in telling about his needs in the “Open Heart” of the Ashram, said: “I am the only ‘heathen’ here—I am not a church member or a Christian.” Afterwards, in an interview, I said to him: “You a marked man. Christ has put his mark upon you. You are his.” He said later: “That got me. I knew the mark of Christ was upon me. I felt it in my being, and I knew when I was fighting against Christ I was fighting against myself.” When he accepted Christ, it was like a homecoming. He was made the director of the Ashram a few days later. From “heathen” to director in a few days! He was at home in the Kingdom—a natural. It seemed that he had been there all his life. He had been, but he didn’t know it! All coming to Jesus Christ has the feeling of a homecoming upon it. All going away from him has the sense of estrangement upon it. The rich young ruler went away from Jesus “sorrowful.” Everybody does. Not only estranged from God, but also estranged from oneself. And the universe! And from Life! You are not at home with life, unless you are at home with Life. And Jesus is Life!
O Life, I dare not ask to fly from you. For if I cannot live with you, I’ll not be able to live with myself nor with life. I’m hemmed in by Grace. And that Grace is your love herding me into your fold, which turns out to be my home. I’m homesick for you. I Thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My soul, forget your name, but don’t forget this: You are made for him.