Text:

‘I will arise and go to my father’ – Luke 15:18

Thought:

Have you ever completely messed everything up? Jesus taught a parable about the Prodigal Son. It concerned a young man wanting to leave home, who having received his inheritance ahead of time, left for a far country. Away from family and their disapproving looks, he began to spend like there was no tomorrow.

He soon attracted new ‘friends’, eager to benefit from such generosity and wasteful living. Life was good for a while, then trouble hit. His bank account ran down until it was empty. Then a severe famine engulfed the area making it almost impossible to survive living off the land. Now in dire straits, he tried to find employment, but jobs were hard to come by in an economic downturn. In desperation he took the only job offered – feeding the pigs. He was so hungry that even the pigs’ food looked appetising. Once the life and soul of the party, he was now forgotten by all those who had enjoyed his carefree living.

Sometimes it’s only when we reach rock bottom that we start to look back at where it all went wrong. He thought of home and how even the hired servants were living a much better quality of life than he was. Feelings of guilt over-whelmed him as he compared his father’s careful-ness concerning money with his own recklessness. The urge to return home was quickly stifled by self-condemnation. He was getting what he deserved!

One day he had had enough and made the decision to go home. Not as a son, but to become a servant. This time the desire to return became greater than all the obstacles that had prevented him from doing so in the past. He began rehearsing what he would say, “Father, I have done wrong—wrong against God and against you. I have forfeited any right to be treated like your son, but I’m wondering if you’d treat me as one of your hired servants?” Over and over he repeated the words until they became engrained in his memory. Each hour of the journey home, thoughts would flash through his mind, “What would his father’s reaction be?”

As he neared the family farm, his feet began to walk a little slower. This was it, no turning back, what will be will be! Suddenly a great shout startled him and a man runs towards him, and embraces him. No time to finish saying what he had been rehearsing for days, his father welcomes him and commands the servants to prepare for a party, for the son he had given up for dead, was alive!

Life can be cruel but sometimes it’s self-inflicted due to the wrong choices we make. Jesus taught that even if we’re guilty of a wrong lifestyle, we can still return to the Father, because He loves us, and wants to be part of our life again. There’s forgiveness, provision, healing and blessing awaiting your return.

Don’t leave it another day longer, it’s time for you to return to the Father!