Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Family”
Our Bible verse for today: “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust have eaten.” Joel 2:25 (NKJV)
Our thought for today: “There are no “throw-away” people.”
I love the great truth expressed by the Lord through the Old Testament prophet Joel in Joel 2:25. The southern kingdom of Judah had suffered a terrible disaster. As a result of their continued disobedience the Lord had allowed a plague of locusts to descend upon the land and strip it bare of every living green thing. It was awful and the people were as destitute as they could be.
But through Joel God spoke a word of hope and promise. If they would repent not only would God forgive them, but He would restore to them all they had lost. It would take a while, and the pain they suffered (which they brought upon themselves) was real and terrible, but still, God was prepared to receive them back and restore His blessings to them if they would repent and change their ways.
In recent years I’ve spent a lot of time in the local jail visiting with men who, through years of drug abuse and crime, have lives that look a lot like that devastated land of Judah. Joel 2:25 is one of the verses I frequently share with them because it’s a great truth of God that applied not only to those people back then, but to us in our day too. If we repent not only will God forgive us and restore His blessings to us, but He will often help us to regain much of what was lost.
This is one of the reasons I believe there are no throw-away people. Since God never gives up on us, we cannot give up on others. They do have a responsibility to repent and change their ways, but we also have a responsibility to help them do it and to then offer them a way back.
I believe this must be true in traditional family units and homes, but also in places like churches and groups of friends. It’s true that sometimes individual members of our families and family-like groups behave in ways that are completely unacceptable. When they do that not only do they suffer terribly in their own lives, but they hurt others too. So for our own sake and safety we often need to put distance between them and us. Appropriate boundaries are always needed when inappropriate behavior is frequent.
But the opportunity for forgiveness and restoration should still exist as well. There are no throw-away people so don’t ever give up on anyone. Don’t enable bad behavior – take the action necessary to protect yourself and to allow the individual to suffer the consequences of their own bad choices; but once they have repented and changed their ways, make sure you have left them a path back for reconciliation and restoration.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 