Remarkable Grace for the Lost and Broken

Author Biography

Marissa lives with her husband and children in Arizona. She's been with CBN since 2021. In her free time, you may find her restoring furniture, on a walk with her boys, or writing music.

Marissa Nordlum - Email Analyst

Have you ever experienced grace so great that you knew you didn’t deserve it? The truth is, we all have, if we have found ourselves alive through salvation in Jesus Christ.

A few years back, I watched my family extend this kind of great grace to someone I love who had become estranged from our family. Watching this loved one walk down a path of destruction and pride was hard to endure. I vividly remember praying for them to surrender their life to Jesus. There came a specific moment where they reconciled with family members, came back to the Lord, and we extended unconditional love and grace, welcoming them home. This moment brought our entire family closer than ever before. Maybe you’ve seen similar family dysfunction before. Broken relationships and prodigal situations can feel hopeless. Whether you are a parent longing for a child to return to God, a relative watching it all play out, or a prodigal who has run away from home; we can all learn something valuable from the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15.

Many of us have known the story of the prodigal son since Sunday school. Luke 15 tells the story that Jesus shares as a parable to a mixed crowd (Pharisees, teachers of the law, tax collectors, and sinners). There was a lesson in this story for everyone who was listening and there still is today. The story tells us of a father who had two sons, and the younger son asked the father for his inheritance (Luke 15:11-12). The younger son left home and squandered it on wild living and whatever he desired. When he finally came to his senses, he realized he should return home to his father’s house and offer to be a servant in repentance (Luke 15:13-20). What is powerful about this story is that when the son returned home, his father ran out to him, not with condemnation or anger, but with love and arms open wide. The response of the father was to bring out a ring and a robe and celebrate him with a feast. Luke 15:24 says,

“For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So, they began to celebrate. (NIV)

The father extended great grace to his son. He was overjoyed that he had come home. He showed love instead of being angry over how he left or the destruction he had caused. Doesn’t that sound a lot like the grace the Father extends to us all through salvation? Once, we were lost and dead in our sins. Maybe your testimony includes prodigal moments, much like mine does, and that of my brother. But when we surrender our lives to Christ, He makes us fully alive, fills us with His spirit, and welcomes us home as a son or daughter with arms open wide. He shows us grace instead of condemnation. Just as Scripture tells us, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) In Christ our sins are washed white as snow, as far as the east is from the west. He remembers them no more: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

Maybe today you need this reminder of Christ’s great grace. Have you felt like the prodigal son, or do you know a prodigal in your life currently? Let us all receive His grace today and extend that same grace of the Father. With arms wide open, Christ says to you and to me, welcome home.

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