'a thousand times worse...a million times better'

A couple of people have already linked to this post on the Prodigal Son/God by Glen Scrivener. But it deserves the largest readership it can get:

When we sin, do we consider ourselves to be in the pig sty - the long journey back home stretches ahead of us? Or do we consider ourselves to be already in the Father’s arms? There’s a big difference.

I remember speaking with a Christian man about his extra-marital affair from years earlier. As he spoke about the pain of those memories I said to him “You realise that in the midst of the very worst of that, Jesus was rejoicing over you as a Bridegroom rejoices over His bride.” He paused for a long time and said “That makes it a hundred times worse!” I said “Yes it does. A thousand times worse.” We think that we manage to sin away in a corner somewhere. No, no, no. Just read 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 to see that we are very much united to Christ in our sin!
We stink of pig in the Father’s arms. That’s a thousand times worse than stinking in the sty. But it’s a million times better too.

The point of our turning - and our life of turning and turning again to the Father - is in His unchanging embrace. When you sin don’t imagine yourself alone in the sty. You are there in His arms - reeking and held fast. It’s a thousand times worse. A million times better.