Is it because you have never known the hunger and want of the “far country”? Or, Is it because YOU DO NOT BELIEVE the Father really IS WILLING to receive YOU? The story is told of a man in China who wanted to tell the story of the Prodigal Son. He asked an artist to draw a picture of that wondrous meeting, when the Father threw his arms round that miserable boy, “and covered him with kisses.” He gave him a copy of Luke’s Gospel so he could read it for himself, and get all the details correct.
And what was the picture like when it was finished? There was the Father, with a look of anger, a big stick in his hand, giving the poor, dirty, half naked boy the thrashing he deserved.
“This is what really would happen!” remarked the artist.
We know this is what we deserve from God’s hands, and it seems too good to be true that instead He is willing and waiting to receive us back, just as we are, in all our sins and filth; and that a free pardon, and the best robe are waiting for us. It sounds too good to be true. But it is True.