Prodigal

I thought that, in spirit of this great story, I would post a couple of relevent songs! The first is "Prodigal" by Casting Crowns and the second is "You Take Me Back" by Jeremy Camp

Living on my own, Thinking for myself
Castles in the sand, Temporary wealth
Walls are falling down, storms are closing in
Tears have filled my eyes, here I go again

Prechorus
And I've held out as long as I can
Now I'm letting go and holding out my hand

Chorus
Daddy here I am again
Will you take me back tonight
I went and made the world my friend
And it's left me high and dry
I've dragged your name back through the mud
That you first found me in
Not worthy to be called your son
Is this to be my end
Daddy here I am again
Here I am again

Curse this morning sun
Drags me into one more day
Of reaping what I've sown
Living with my shame
Welcome to my world
And the life that I have made
Where one day you're a prince
And the next day you're a slave

Prechorus

Chorus

You Take Me Back

The reason why I stand
The answer lies in you
You hung to make me strong
Though my praise was few
When I fall I bring your name down

But I have found in you
A heart that pleads forgiveness
Replacing all these thoughts
Of painful memories
But I know that
Your response will always be

Chorus
I'll take you back always
And even when your fighting's over now
Even when your fighting's over now
I'll take you back always
Even when your pain is coming through
Even when your pain is coming through
I'll take you back

You satisfy this cry
Of what I'm looking for
And I take all I can
And lay it down before
Your throne of endless grace now
That radiates what's true

And I'm in the only place that
Erases all these faults that
Have overtaken me
Still I know that
Your response will always be

Chorus

I can only speak with a grateful heart
As I'm pierced by this gift of your love
I will always bring an offering
I can never thank you enough

Chorus

The Path of the Prodigal Pt 7

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate." Luke 15:21-24

We see here in this verse that the son is home now, and the he begins his speech that he rehearsed. What I love about this verse is that the father doesn't even let him finish, so joyful he is over seeing his son. He immediately calls his servants and tells them to get ready the things that would signify the restoration of his son, and to get ready a celebration!

I cannot even begin to imagine the relief this son feels, and the joy. Instead of blame, he gets grace; instead of guilt, he gets love. What a great picture of our salvation. When God brings us to Himself, and we finally wander over to Him, after all of our sins and mistakes we expect wrath, but instead get the mercy of God.

Taking a look at the verse, there is one more thing I'd like to point out. Notice that a lost person isn't just lost. They're dead. This is indeed significant, for a dead person cannot choose, will, or do anything. We cannot choose God for our salvation because we are dead. God is the one who does the choosing, and God is the one who does the saving, and in this He gets all the glory.

The Path of the Prodigal Pt 6

"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." Luke 15:20

What a great verse this is! This verse is one of the greatest parts of this whole story. After rehearsing this whole speech to himself, the son finally gathers the wits to get up and get going. He begins the long road back to his father's house, probably very afraid and very anxious about what his father will do. He is sure to himself that his father will cast blame and judgement upon him, and rightly so. How wrong he is, however!

The verse here says that he was a long way off when his father saw him. While it doesn't exactly say how far off, we can most certainly get the impression that the father has been looking for his son to return this whole time. While the son is anxiously awaiting for judgement, the father is anxiously awaiting for his son to return home to him. I can well imagine that the father has been up at night, worrying for his son, wishing he were home again. I can imagine this because this is what I hear from loving parents when their children leave home or run away.

In either case, the father sees his son from far off and, for this one time in all of Scripture, Jesus portrays the Father as a man who eagerly runs to a son. This man in the story was rich, perhaps powerful, perhaps influential. Those sorts of people don't run. They walk, they take cabs, they have limos, but they don't run. This man forsook all of that, it all wasn't important in light of him seeing his beloved son coming home. He threw dignity to the wind and took off towards his son.

That is how our Father loves us. Don't get me wrong, His first priority is to His glory and to His great name, but that doesn't change the fact that our God loves us so that He would run to us and embrace us and kiss us. Notice that it doesn't say in this verse that the son washed up or got better clothes. He came home just as he was, and the father didn't mention the stink of the pigs or the mess of the party. He just threw his arms around his son and showed him love. When we first came to our Father, we had the stink of the sty on us as well, but God loved us anyways.

Oh, how great is the love with which the Father loves us! It should fill our hearts with joy and a passion for this great King who does so much to see us home! I urge you, brethren, to please let this verse and this love so saturate your minds and hearts that it would transform you!

The Path of the Prodigal pt 5

"'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."'" Luke 15:18+19

In this verse we see that the prodigal son decides that his time in squalor is over. He declares that he will get up out of the muck and return to his father. Now, this in itself is a bold move on his part. I can only imagine the questions crowding his mind. What will his father do and say when the son returns? Will the father laugh and say, "Aha! Now that you need me, you come back!" Will he say "I told you so!" Will he turn his son away? After this humiliating experience, one can imagine that the young man has no pride left.

So the son begins rehearsing what he will say. First, a confession. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight." The son rightly realizes that all sin is first against the Almighty. When we sin, whoever we hurt, we sin against God. All sin is rebellion to God.

Another thing to note about this confession is that the man doesn't make any excuses. He understands that there are none. He doesn't justify, rationalize, or explain. He simply acknowledges guilt! Oh, that we would learn this lesson in today's churches! How much happier we would be, and how better we would get along with others!

After the confession, he ackowledges his shame. "I am no longer worthy to be called your son..." Oh, how many times I have felt this shame with my God. How often do I cry out, "Oh, God, I am so unworthy to be called your child!"

He would be right in saying this, as would I. Sin does that. It makes us unworthy to be sons and daughters and alienates that dynamic. And under the law, a rebellious child should be put to death! By all rights, this young man should be facing death in the old law! I can well imagine his guilt, his shame, his fear. He knows He's unworthy, and he doesn't wish to ask for that kind of mercy. He doesn't ask for sonship, but rather, to be a slave.

What an example of humility before God! We have to know the humility that cries out "Woe to me! I am ruined before this holy God!" It is a good and holy thing to fear God. As we shall soon see, however, God has love and mercy on those who rely on Him far beyond what we could ask!

The Path of the Prodigal Pt 4

"But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!'" Luke 15:17

I thought that we would take this verse one at a time, because the next two verses should go together, as they are one speech. I think, also, there is enough in this one verse to warrant a closer look.

I love how God leads us to these moments. There are moments like these where we fully realize all that's been taking place and we snap to our senses. Moments like that are amazing. The son here has one of those. After all that has transpired, the son finally has something click in his head, to where he understands, perhaps, the gravity of the situation. Some would say that I'm reading too much into this little verse. There are some who would take it at face value only, and that the son only realized that he was hungry and that his father had food.

They are welcome to their opinions, but this verse says the son "came to his senses." Does this mean that he had been previously out of his senses? Perhaps. Whatever it says about his previous state, it definitely says that now he was thinking clearly. All the events that had just transpired can be, now, seen clearly for what they were and he realizes that he needs his father. He doesn't know how to make it on his own, and that's the main point I think we should realize here. When we come to our senses, we have to realize that we need our Father. To wander off away from Him, thinking we no longer need Him is not just rebellion, it's stupidity.

Praise God for these eye opening experiences. Sometimes He leads us to the sty before He leads us back home, and that's His sovereign will.

The Path of the Prodigal Pt 3

"So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him." Luke 15: 15+16

So now we find this young man hiring himself out to people of a foreign country. Now, what was significant about this is that Jews were not supposed to do this. Jews viewed outsiders as dogs and pagan Gentiles. What this young man did was a serious offense in the mind of the average Jewish person at the time. Not only did he move to a foreign country and involve himself with prostitution and whatever else, he also hired himself out to a Gentile!

The wording here would suggest that the young man was hired out as a slave of sorts. This can most certainly be applied to us when we forsake our Father in Heaven. Whenever we turn our backs on God, we become slaves to things foreign to us before. Certain sins come back to haunt us, and we hire ourselves out to them. What is more telling and, perhaps, more fitting to this analogy is that the man was set to feed pigs. Pigs were an extremely unclean animal in the Old Testament. The Jews would have nothing to do at all with swine in any way. For this man to be feeding them and around them all the time would be highly disgusting.

Once again, this drives home what can happen when we say goodbye to God. We run away from Him, we enslave ourselves to new masters, and we wind up dealing everyday with the unclean things of the world.

Verse 16 shows how desperate this man was in his condition. He was so poor and so hungry that he would have stolen food from the pig pen and eaten it. Now, I've never owned pigs or really every been around them much, but I can well imagine using what I've heard of pigs what they eat and how gross that must be. This verse can not only show us how we are when we run away from God, but also it shows us how serious sin really is. ALL sin is this way. Please, never let yourself be caught in the lie that there are some sins worse than others. Every single last sin does this exact same thing to us, and so we need to be on our guard.

The last point of interest in this verse is the fact that though he was starving, nobody gave him anything to eat. People who were against his world were quite content to leave him starving. As a matter of fact, it probably made them chuckle to see the Jewish man starving and begging the pigs for food. I think a crucial point can be illustrated here. As the Gentiles were in his day, so unbelievers are in ours. It is with great caution and prayer that we communicate and deal with unbelievers. We do not know who God has chosen to save, and everyone who is not already for Jesus is against Jesus. All of us would do well to keep that in mind as we go about our days.

The Path of the Prodigal Pt 2

"And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a sever famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished." Luke 15: 13+14

We return to this Scripture to see that all is not exactly going as the younger son had planned. It was his intent to get his money and live happily ever after. We see in verse 13 that the young son doesn't waste any time in gathering his things and taking off to where his father's name and reputation means nothing.

I think there are several reasons why he did this. The first is to cut all ties with his family. In his mind, this freedom from his family is just what he needed. Secondly, it's quite possible that the son felt embarrassed by his family. It seems that most youngsters become embarrassed by their family once they reach a certain age. Perhaps this sons is going through that stage.

Another possibility, and this one I feel is perhaps the most prevelant one, is the possibility that the younger son, deep down, felt some shame for his actions. He knew that he had severely wounded his father, and he knew that he would be wounding his father's name even more with his actions, so he moved as far away as he could so that the name of his father could not reach him, and he could live just as he wanted to without interference.

Whatever the reason, the son went and "squandered" the money. That the Bible uses the word "squandered" means that the things the son did with his money are garbage and a waste of money. What he considered pleasurable God considered trash. How often do we do the same thing and squander our wealth? So many times I know in my own life that I take what God has given me and waste it on useless things.

Now after that, there was a famine. The man had no money left, and so he became poor. I can well imagine that once the money went, so also did his new found "friends."

Can I ask you a question? How often, after wasting God's gift, do you feel "poor?" How often does it feel likle all your options are gone once you shame God? I challenge you, brothers and sisters, to cry out to God that He would give you a heart to value His glory and not the trash of this world.

The Path of the Prodigal

"And He said, 'A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me." So he divided his wealth between them.'" Luke 15:11+12

It has been some time since I have done these devotionals, but it is most certainly a good time to start back up. I want to start first by saying that I apologize for letting these things go for quite as long as they did, and to say that I will do my best to bring these devotions every morning\evening.

For the next few days, or maybe even a week or two, I would like to look deeply at a passage of Scripture and see what it says. This will be a little different than what I am used to doing, so bear with me if it seems belabored.

We open on the story of the Prodigal Son, a great story that I think every Christian can relate. I do this story because, as I'm sure all of you can, I can relate both to the older and the younger son. There have been far too many times in my life of me being the younger son, wandering away from God. There have similarly been too many times when I have been the older, joyless and loveless. But praise be to God that He is always the Father in the story; wise, compassionate, loving, and looking out for the best of His children.

Verse one opens on the fact that the man has two sons. We see in this verse that Jesus is using a story to illustrate a point. The two previous stories were supposed to illustrate the joy of Heaven over a lost sinner. However, as the last two parables were about inanimate objects, this one is more personal and talks about a man with two sons.

Moving to the next verse, we see here that the younger brother is asking for his inheritance. It seems that the younger brother is and has been the delinquent one of the bunch, and I get the distinct impressino from this parable that the younger son was something of a trouble maker. What seems to be really disturbing about what the youngster said to his father is that he was, in essence, wishing the father's death and saying he couldn't wait for his father to die. In that culture, the inheritance (much as in this one) would not go to the sons until the death of the father. This inheritance would equal, for this case, one third of the father's wealth. The older son would get the "double portion," or two thirds, in this case.

The son obviously couldn't wait for his money, and basically said to the father "Why don't you just die off so I can get what's mine?" Now what astounds me in this parable is that the father just lets the son get away with it, and actually gives him the money! But notice here what the verse says! The money is divided to BOTH the sons! This will become more important later as we look further on in this verse. Right now suffice it to say that both sons get whatever money the father is leaving them, the father gets whatever he needs to survive on and keeps some of the money, and that is that. Now the eldest son didn't seem to mind the money being divided, and once more, that will become important later on.

In the interests of time and space, we will only go through two verses a day, but each look will end with something we can take away from the two verses. For today, I can certainly see myself in that younger son. How often do we, in effect, say that to our Father? "God, just give me what's mine and butt out!" Whenever we strive to get our own way, when we chase after the garbage of the world, and when we get involved in things that God hates, we are telling Him that we wish Him dead and out of our way, so we can have our inheritance, which is the world. I would urge you, brothers and sisters, to contemplate on this and cry out to God that our hearts be softened in this area.