“But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.” – 2 Samuel 14:14b
God’s heart and desire for every person is reconciliation and restoration. He made us for fellowship with Him and with one another. He never wants the outcast to remain outcast or those separated from Him to remain separated. Though sin separates us from the our Holy Creator, our perfect Father in Heaven doesn’t want that to be anyone’s final situation. His love, mercy, and grace are so vast that He even sent His own Son, Jesus, into the world to reconcile us to Him. The eternal Son of God, Who is God come in the flesh, gave His life over to death on a cross so that no person made in God’s image (and that’s every person) would have to remain separated for eternity. And this glorious restoration and reconciliation is entirely a gift of grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ.
God is not, first and foremost, a God of wrath, judgment, or condemnation. He is certainly a just judge Who will condemn those who are in sin, that isn’t His heart. His heart is to see sinners reconciled and restored through grace. To see the outcast welcomed home. To adopt rebels as His children. For those who’ve received that grace and been welcomed into the family of God through Jesus Christ, this must be our heart as well. We must not find satisfaction in someone’s life as an outcast, either from God or from other people. We must pray and make every effort to bring about reconciliation and restoration for those willing to embrace it.
For Christians, this is our ministry because God has reconciled us to Himself. So, is your heart for the outcast? Do you make efforts to see those far from God, or far from people, brought close in love and grace? What’s holding you back from sharing in the heart of God? #FollowJesus