When Elizabeth Barrett married Robert Browning, her parents disapproved
of the marriage and disowned her.
Hoping for a reconciliation,
Barrett wrote to her parents weekly. To that end she produced wonderful,
loving, heart-rending letters. Sadly, after 10 years of non-stop
writing, she received a huge box in the mail. The box contained all the
correspondence she had sent. Even worse, every single one of those
letters had never been opened.
Today, Elizabeth Barrett's pleas
to her parents are a precious part of English literature. Still, they
were never read by their intended recipients. If her parents had taken
the time to open just one of those writings, if they had scanned just
one of those notes, the broken relationship with their daughter might
have been healed.
If that had happened, everyone would have been
far, far happier.
Might I suggest that, with one major exception,
Barrett's story is much like our own. In the Garden of Eden our first
ancestors, Adam and Eve, were displeased with the way God was running
things and the single rule He had given about eating the forbidden
fruit. We disregarded God's command and disobeyed Him. That action,
which disowned God, brought sin into this world and sin brought its
partner: death.
That should be the end of the story, but it's
not.
Like the story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, someone
started to write letters. But here's the difference. In Barrett's tale,
the offender was the one who tried to reestablish a relationship with
the people who had been offended. In our story, it is the offended party
who has begun the process by which the relationship might be rebuilt and
restored.
It's true.
Over a period of 1,500 years God
wrote a total of 66 letters to us. In all of those letters He told us He
wanted us back, that He would do everything to make it so we could come
back. Throughout the Bible, again and again, the loving Lord held out
this promise: the wages of disobedience is death, but the gift of
salvation and reconciliation comes through Jesus Christ. Believe on the
Christ and you shall be saved.
It is a promise that can still be
relied upon.
And those who receive that promise through Holy
Spirit-given faith are far, far happier.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I
give thanks that in the Holy Bible You have extended forgiveness and
salvation. Through the sacrifice of Your Son You have rebuilt the bridge
between heaven and hell, which we have broken. May I read Your Word and
give thanks for the reconciliation the Redeemer has brought about. In
His Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries All rights reserved;
not to be duplicated without permission.
