Sunday Devotional

Max can be counted on for one sure thing, he will always be happy to see me.

Our family went home for Christmas this year. Since we decided to fly, I arranged for Max to stay with a sitter. Yes, people will actually babysit your pet.

Anyway, we were gone for ten days. The lady who volunteered to keep Max was wonderful. She bought him toys, made him scrambled eggs for breakfast, even let him sleep in the bed with her. But he missed us. We missed him.

When we got home, I went right over to collect him. The moment he heard my voice, he leapt from the couch, jumped into my arms and licked my face. Repeatedly. All the way home, he kept trying to crawl into my lap so he could lick my fingers and sniff my neck. It was so sweet.

Funny thing is, I got the same reaction last Sunday when we got home from church. I was gone for two hours, yet the moment I walked through the door, Max leapt off the couch, ran to meet me, jumped into my arms, and licked my face. When I get home from work. . .well, you get the picture.

All of this got me thinking. Am I always so overjoyed at the prospect of spending time with the Lord? Do I miss Him when I neglect our time together? Does my heart thrill to hear His voice and do I run to meet with Him?

I must confess, my attitude is not always like Max’s shining example, especially when Sunday rolls around and my pillow beckons. Fortunately, God’s is, and He is always happy to see me.

Luke 15:11-24 (New King James Version)

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
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17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring[a] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.