The other day I was reading the story of the prodigal son and had a revelation about this passage that I had never thought of before. It is incredible how we can read scripture at different times in our life and either find different uses as it pertains to us or see other meanings that maybe we had never noticed before.
In Luke 15 : 11-32 the father has two sons and gives them both a share of his property. The youngest son takes his inheritance, leaves town, and squanders everything his father gave him on wild living. The youngest son then had no money and hired himself out to work for a farmer in that country. No one would give him anything though and he longed for his stomach to be filled. He finally came to his and decided that he would go back to his father, not as his son, but as one of his hired workers. When he returns home his father throws a huge celebration party for his son. The father is so happy that he has returned home and is so ecstatic that he was lost but is now found, he was dead but now he is alive! This is the story through verse 24.
This is a very encouraging story relating to God accepting us back in to His arms no matter what our journey might have been. Our God is a loving God who is always looking, hoping, and waiting for us to return to Him when we may have lost our way. What a great God that we have that He does not condemn us for what we had done but faithfully love us in our return. I have read this story very often and for me as well as for a lot of people that is where it stopped. I believe that the obvious point of this parable is to proclaim God’s faithful and everlasting love for us but I also see another meaning that recently the Lord has shown me.
Verse 25 takes a bit of a different path. The second son that the Father gave part of his estate to learns of the return of his younger brother and that his father was throwing a party for him. The elder brother became angry at the thought of this and confronted his father. The older son says in ‘”Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” The father goes on to say that you have always been with me and that everything the father has is his as well but the youngest son is home. He was lost and now he is found. He is dead and now he is alive.
I began to be challenged by how the older son acted. He was looking for his blessing. Where was his party? Where was his celebration for being faithful? His brother, who went off and sinned and threw away everything his father blessed him with had returned and there was a big party for him. He was mad! I looked at my own self and began to see a little bit of the older brother in myself. At times in my own life (and I’m sure a lot of other believers as well) I wondered and asked God where my big blessing was at in certain situations. Where was my inheritance? Where was my big break? You see I have walked through a lot of pain in my life. I was adopted at the age of 5. I have seen 3 divorces at the hands of my adoptive parents, 2 dads who have cheated on my mom, 1 who was an alcoholic, and 1 who is now in prison the rest of his life. I have been hurt so bad that A portion of my life was spend sprinting from God and filling the voids in my life with worldly desires. I often asked God why? But more often, I asked God when I would catch my break. In the world you often see good things happening to bad people, or good things happening to people that you think maybe didn’t deserve it as much as you might have. That’s where the Holy Spirit began to check me. What am I worshiping God for? Is it to attain some sort of financial asset? Do I worship God maybe to gain some sort of blessing from Him? Do I serve God just so that I can receive pardon from my sin so that I may live in Heaven? What is the sole reason for committing my life to Him?
Apart from it all I believe the sole reason God wants us to be His is out of our love for Him. I believe He cherishes a child like innocent love that is solely dependent upon Him. Previous times in my life it was easy to say I worship God because I love him. But was that the real reason? At the bottom of it all, deep down, was that really the reason? Not to gain anything, not to move forward, not even for my sins to be forgiven. Out of shear innocent, child like love for our Abba Father. Because he loved us first even before we were born. I heard a great quote saying God loves me despite knowing that I will sin again. Truly think about that and think about how powerful that is! What if I never had a blessing again in my entire life? What if I lived out my days single, making minimum wage, working the same 9-5 job? What if tragedy constantly struck my family as did for Job? What if nothing ever went my way? Would I still love Him?
Luke 18:15 Jesus says “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Outside of knowing Jesus this World Race acceptance has been one of the greatest blessings I have received in my life. I have not even left for this journey but already truly believe that this 11 months God will bring so much restoration, hope, healing, and LOVE I wont be able to contain it. My prayer is not only will our lives and the lives of those we come in contact with overseas be changed but also the lives of people in here at home will be changed by seeing our GREAT GOD at work!!
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