"His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'" Luke 15:31-32
We are all prone to selfishness. This is why one of a child's first words is often, "mine." A child has to learn the value of sharing and thinking about others. That instinct is not innate within him or her. Although we learn the value of thinking of others and sharing as children, selfishness is a character trait that many of us will constantly have to fight against even as adults. Selfishness is particularly difficult to fight against in our culture that teaches us that the most important thing is looking out for ourselves. This selfishness often leads to a monsoon of saying "no" to God. Scripture teaches us that living selfishly and only caring about our own desires ultimately causes disaster. A young man in a story Jesus told in Luke 15 certainly learned this to be true.
In Luke 15, Jesus told a story that was meant to teach His audience something about God. This story Jesus told in Luke 15 was about a young man who was completely living for himself. The young man in this story went up to his father and asked for his inheritance early. In other words, this man was saying to his father, "You would be more valuable to me if you were dead. Therefore, since you are still alive, can I go ahead and have my inheritance?" I can imagine that this would offend any father. While most fathers would have declined this son's request, this father granted it. He gave his son the inheritance he asked for. Then, the son went off, probably never expecting to see his father again. After all, he had his inheritance. He only wanted what he could gain from his father. With his father's inheritance, this man lived in a way that was completely against how his father wanted him to live.
In this parable, the son wasted away his inheritance in reckless living. Eventually, his money ran out. He was feeding pigs and eating some of their leftover food. In other words, he had hit "rock bottom." Finally, he decided that he would be better off as one of his father's servants. He made the trip back to his father's house and planned to request to become one of his father's servants. Before he could even ask his dad and before he even made it to his dad's house, his dad saw him. Immediately, the father ran toward his son and welcomed him not as a servant, but as a son. He restored their relationship completely and threw a party to celebrate his son's return. The son may have expected rejection from his father or, at best, the invitation to become one of his father's servants. I am certain he did not expect to see his father running toward him. Even more, I know he did not expect his father to throw a party to celebrate his return. Because he loved his son, the father welcomed him home. The son was not only accepted. He was valued as the son of this father.
In this story, the father represents God the Father. The son in this story represents us. We have all done things to disobey God and break His heart. We have thrown our lives away, giving in to sin. This story teaches us that God, like the father in this story, had every right to punish us or abandon us because of our sin, but He chose love, forgiveness, and restoration instead. You see, He is simply waiting on us to turn back to Him. He loves us so much.
Have you ever found yourself like the prodigal son, caught up in living selfishly, only concerned for yourself? Have you found yourself living in a completely different way that what God wants you to live? My friend, it's time to turn back to your loving Heavenly Father. He's waiting for you to turn back to Him.
In what ways are you like the prodigal son? Have you completely abandoned God in order to live for yourself? Have you valued money or a relationship instead of your relationship with Him? Have you only been interested in what you could gain from Him rather than being interested in Him? Have your own selfish desires led you to live disobediently toward God? After answering these questions, turn to Him and repent. Pray to God and ask Him to forgive you for your sin and to restore your relationship with Him. He's waiting for you with open arms. Turn back to Him.
Read Luke 15:11-33 (NLT)
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
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