Dust & Mercy: Love Kneels

Matthew 18:22 “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.”

I am the prodigal son. Not once, but perpetually. I’m familiar with the sting of sin, the pangs of confession, and the silent question in the air of absolution — whether I’ll ever truly change. I know the shame of hope betrayed every time I kneel again before the throne of mercy. This is the rhythm of my life: stumble and fall, kneel, stand up, stumble and fall again. Yet it is here, in the painful ebb and flow of repentance, that I have encountered the inexhaustible love of the Father. This is my confession and my hope: Seventy times seven times, I have sinned, and seventy times seven times, I have been forgiven. My weakness has become the stage for God’s relentless mercy.

Have you ever found yourself on the receiving end of a self‑inflicted wound, wondering who the culprit could be? Often I catch myself blaming the world for the wreckage at my feet, while I attempt to scrub the blood from my hands. Eventually my inner accuser pulls through for the team — I feel the weight of culpability, lower my index finger, and get back on my knees. In this cycle of sin and confession, I find mercy eagerly waiting to welcome me home. Again and again. My Father refuses to recoil from me, but rather He runs to me, embraces me, and washes the stains I cannot scrub away.

Do you doubt whether you can truly be forgiven? I’ve nearly drowned in that same doubt myself, taunted by my shortcomings, abandoned by my own conscience, wondering if the Light could still reach me. Time after time, when I’ve dug my own pit and dove in headfirst, the scarred hand of my Savior has reached down, hauling me from the fire and setting me straight again. Listen closely: my life is proof that I am a wretched sinner, that love never fails, and mercy never quits.

More soon. Peace be with you,

joshua