The Lost Son

Luke 15:11-32 tells the story of the lost son. If you're a Christian or if you've been to church on a Sunday morning other than Christmas or Easter, there's a good chance you're familiar with this parable. It's the story of a son who truly had every thing, but rejected it to pursue his own selfish ambitions in the world. Of course, his world comes crumbling down. So, he decides to go back to his father...He's planned out their first conversation: He will apologize and ask for a position as one of the helpers, basically giving up his position as a son. Well, the father welcomes the boy with open arms. In fact, he greets the boy before he even gets home. When he saw him coming he immediately began running towards him. Then, he threw a big party for his lost son that now is found.

For years, I treasured this as my favorite passage in the Bible (these days, the wedding at Cana tends to be my favorite...Jesus starts his ministry there with the water into wine thing...Pretty cool stuff). It seems so true to life. Many of us have been in the shoes of the lost son. We've been close to the Father and then lost contact...We've gone off on our own. And, then when we return to the Father, He greets us with love, grace, mercy, forgiveness...And He throws us a huge party. It's a beautiful story. And, if we are to be totally honest, it's one we probably play out on a daily basis.

Gary Moon, in his book "Falling for God", says this about the famous passage of Scripture from Luke 15:

"Because I know this story is timeless, I can confess to God and to you that my soul is darkly stained by the choice of Adam and Eve. I've made the same wrong choice, and continue to make it, hundreds of times each day. Even though I've read the script written by the prodigal son, I continue to play his role myself. And as if this weren't bad enough, I've accepted the forgiveness of my heavenly Father, felt his embrace, only to get up the next morning, pack my bags, and leave again and again and again. Maybe seventy times seven. Maybe more. Over and over I choose control, perfectionism, drive for success, and myself over trust, acceptance, enjoyment of the present moment, and God."

Let us thank God that even though we may play the role of the prodigal son day after day He always welcomes us home with open arms. Every time we sin, it's like we've packed our bags and gone out on our own. I pray that today we will all be able to focus on Him and stay at home with our Father.