Return to Me

Ever since our fall in Adam we’ve been running - running away from God. Yet the further we run the more we come to experience that without God there is no hope, without God the only thing that awaits us is eternal death and despair. 

Instead of running away from Him, God is calling us to turn around; to return to Him and look to Him to be saved. 

Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:22 

He Himself has made a way for us to be saved by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17  

Jesus is the only way back to the Father. 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. John 14:6 

And because of His perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross we can return to God. 

Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:7b 

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 1:3 

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7 

We return to God by turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. 

Another word the Bible uses for this turning is to repent. 

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 3:1-2 

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Mark 1:14-15 

When we turn to God we don’t come with our own righteousness or our own good works – for we have none. 

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; Isaiah 64:6 

When we come, we come as the prodigal son. 

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, Luke 15:18 

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Luke 15:20 

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: 1 John 3:1a