Hey! Read this first!
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
“11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Deflated Sleeping Pad
Today we had amazing fellowship with the bread ladies. There is this street where we live here in Lusaka and on that street, there are a lot of people selling things like vegetables, salt, rice, and fritters which are these amazing, sweet, fried rolls. One day we decided to stop at this little shop and were amazed to end up finding some really cool friendships with the ladies who make the bread. One woman, Royce, fed us fritters and black tea and ground nuts for free. She wanted to bless us as daughters. When she called us her daughters I was so touched. You know, experiences like these are what I truly want to live for here, ones where we can just fellowship while we can and love with what we have. Royce interviewed us and asked questions like “when will you marry?”, “how many are you?”, and “why did you come?.” We began to have a bible study when we started to share our favorite bible stories and when I shared the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, I realized something great. I realized that God delivered me from so much darkness. I am the prodigal daughter that turned away from her heavenly father in search of a life I thought would be fulfilling but God delivered me and robed me in the finest clothes in the form of many blessings, one of them being this trip.
Have you ever slept on a really soft mattress and woken up with a back ache and wondered why your back all of a sudden hurts even though that new mattress was sooo soft and felt great at first? Usually it is because your back forms to whatever you continually sleep on and if your normal mattress isn’t as soft, you are going to wake up with pain because your back is just used to the softer mattress. For example, my Indian friend Hming doesn’t have a mattress so once when he slept on one, he woke up in a lot of pain and walked around like an old person for a few days.
Like the way my back hurts after a night of sleeping on a comfy mattress after a long month of sleeping on a deflated sleeping pad because it is not used to such soft goodness, God robed me and blessed me with this life in missions that hasn’t always felt good. This robe looks so soft and fluffy on the outside. People see what I am doing around the world and say things like “wow that is such an amazing opportunity” and “you much be having the time of your life”. In many ways this is true, however, this robe is often really uncomfortable because I don’t always understand how soft it really is. This life gets difficult, a lot, but the reason it is a blessing is because I get to experience the fullness of Jesus which is exactly what he wants us all to experience. God doesn’t want us to live life half-assed (sorry mom I just had to make a point) or with our glasses half full. He wants us to live it fully and abundantly like in John 10:10 when Jesus says “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy but I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
When you decide to try and take control of every aspect of your life, when you decide to clothe yourself in riches rather than allowing God to do it and allowing God to be the captain, you only have the capacity to understand riches and a relationship with Jesus to level 5. You can go to church and small group and be a “good person” and the whole 9 yards and basically live this auto piolet Christian life where you only experience God twice a week at bible study and church. You can make your list of “things that make me look holy” and check them off a weekly list; went to small group, check, went to church, check, volunteered at a soup kitchen, check, donated to some fund, check, and all of these things are great but if your motive is to serve your God and look good doing it, if you have zero contact with God in between those “Christian things” you do, you are stuck. You are stuck on level 5, you are stuck on a deflated pool float for a mattress because at least it’s not the floor. If this is what you are content with though, you miss out on level 10 and you miss out on the fullness of Jesus. You miss out on the pillowtop mattress because your back has slowly formed to the deflated sleeping pad.
Remember though, God doesn’t want our lives to be half full. He doesn’t want our lives as Christians to be a check list. God wants our lives to be full of a joy that comes from him. There are so many things in life that rob us of our joy and cause us to look for it in all the wrong places. When my joy for life was stolen and I was in a dark place in my life filled with anxiety and depression, I looked for my joy in what I thought would give me quick satisfaction. I took my father’s inheritance, what little joy I had left, and squandered it, just like the prodigal son. I was blinded by the promises of “quick happiness” the world pointed me to but then I fell and fell hard. Pretty soon I was left broke and starving for the pods that the pigs ate. My quick satisfaction turned into emptiness. But then something unbelievable happened. I turned my head back to my God, my father, my dad, and he didn’t stare at me and say what the heck is wrong with you, no, he turned to me, ran to me, embraced me and said “my daughter you have returned! I missed you, I love you!” and then something else happened, he invited me to a life where I could live it to the fullest because that life was in constant communion with him. He offered me the pillow top mattress that I was missing out on by whole life. You see, my whole life that check box Christian was me. I was content with my deflated mattress because at least I wasn’t on the floor like the non-Christians.
When we accept Christ and give our lives to him, he doesn’t give us a crappy pool float to sleep on, he gives us the pillow top mattress but what happens is we unknowingly down grade because we don’t understand the pillow top and why it sometimes hurts and we are scared at what a life to the full could look like. But friends, if we are too scared to truly follow Jesus, we miss out on level 10 and we miss out on a life truly worth living because living life for the things that make us look and feel holy rather than for the one who is holy, we get into a cycle, a rut that leaves our cup full then empty then full then empty. What happens though if we choose to allow Jesus to constantly fill up our cup and let it overflow? What happenes when we allow Jesus to give us the pillow top mattress? We receive abundant life! We receive the full inheritance of our king. What happens when we stop deciding to live a half-assed Christian life?
Saying yes to Jesus looks different for everyone. For me it looked a lot like leaving my life in Maryland, my friends and family for 9 months so I could pursue a deeper relationship with Christ and serve people around the world. It looked a lot like signing a contract with an organization so I could go across the world to 3 different countries, continents, and cultures to give away the same love God gave to me. It looked (and still looks) a lot like frequent mental breakdowns because I was uncomfortable to the max and had dry periods where I almost completely checked out because I couldn’t hear or understand this God dude I choose to follow. It looked (and still looks) a lot like being homesick and wanting to go home but it looked more like enormous amounts of beauty that I couldn’t explain. It looked more like having my heart wrecked when a woman thanked us earthquake relief workers for not forgetting she existed. It looked more like ripping out my whole heart and giving it to a woman with downs syndrome I barely could speak to because she made me her best friend. It looked more like giving a sermon that moved a church with no preparation because the Holy spirit wanted to speak through me. It looked more like a broken girl finding her identity and worth in the one who gave her life and sharing it with a congregation. It looked more like freedom that never fades because Christ won’t take back what he did for us on the cross. This crazy life I have chosen isn’t easy. My body has to go through some sore nights because it isn’t always used to all the comfort of a pillow top mattress.
Every day I go through struggles that lead me back to a level 5 walk with Jesus but I have tasted level 10, I have experienced the fullness of Jesus Christ and I don’t want to go back. God takes us out of our brokenness, poor and penniless, and robes us with the finest clothes and gives us riches. He accepts where we come from and invites us to live a full life with him. All we have to do is pick up our cross, allow him to put back on that fine robe we took off, and say yes. Say yes to freedom. Say yes to a full, abundant life. Say yes to the one who gave us breath to speak in the first place. Don’t settle for pig pods when your father gives you the fattened calf. If you want more of Jesus, GO GET IT!
LISTEN TO THIS! Dare You to Move -Switchfoot
