"So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Luke 15:20This is such a perfect picture of God's love for us. "While he was still a long way off...." I think of two fathers waiting. God, and the father in this parable. God has been waiting for us to come back since the beginning, and this father, ever since his son flew out the door with high hopes and full pockets. I think of a father's broken heart. I think of him going about his daily work, with always one eye cast toward that road....I think he held out hope that someday the vision that he carried in his heart, of a lone figure walking toward home would come true.
And then it did, and that was all that mattered. It didn't matter how long he'd been gone, or how many foolish things he had done, or even how much he'd sinned. His father didn't make him feel worse for coming home, heap guilt on him. The son did that all by himself and the father knew it. "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." Luke 15:21
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the other son too. The faithful one. But I wonder, was he really all that faithful? Maybe there was some hidden resentment there all along. Resentment that gave birth to full bloom anger when he saw how overjoyed the father was at his brother's returning.
My Dad and I were talking about this just the other night when I was home.....he said something I had never thought of concerning the son that stayed. He said, "You know, that is just the attitude we have for people who come back to the church sometimes,"But he answered his father, '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." Luke 15:29 It's true. While God welcomes the prodigal with open arms, we sometimes are not as welcoming as we could be; we hold back just a little bit because, after all, we want to see if it is really genuine!
Thank you God, for loving us with an open arms kind of love. A God who waits.....and help me to never forget all the times you have welcomed me back without reservation.
"But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light." Micah 7:7,8
Great blog entry. It reminds me of how the Lord really opened my eyes a few years ago to another side of this story that I had always missed. That is - in a very important sense - the son who was obedient and stayed at home was perhaps more lost than the son who left for a life of sin.
ReplyDeleteBecause the son who stayed with his father also complains to his father that he never even received a young goat to celebrate with his friends. And yet his father had to tell this obedient son something that he never realized - namely that EVERYTHING HE HAD WAS ALREADY HIS. So for his entire life, this 'good' son was surrounded by abundance, but never enjoyed all the blessings his father had for him.
So God showed me that I was like that 'good' son. I wasn't living as someone who shared the great blessings of Abraham and the full inheritance of Christ.
Paul, yes so right. It always amazes me how we can read a verse sometimes for years and not see what God is trying to tell us. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to what we need just when we need it, (or can handle it!) Blessings to you! Lori
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