prodigal son

All He Has is Ours!

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. Luke 15:31

What most of us love about the parable of the prodigal son is the love and acceptance he receives when he returns home. His father had the servants bring him the best robe, sandals and a ring, and then ordered a celebration with music, dancing and lots of food!

When his older brother heard the news he didn’t exactly rejoice. In fact he refused to go even in and instead complained bitterly to his father, “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command” This morning, listen to the father’s reply, “You are always with me and all that is mine is yours.” You see what the older brother hadn’t realized was that he had access to all that his father possessed. He had not received that position because of his years of work. After all there had been servants in the household who had worked harder and longer but were still not owners of anything. The reality was that just like his younger brother he had missed out on his relationship with his dad all those long years.

Though it is easy for us to criticize the older brother’s hard hearted response, we aren’t really that much different than he was. We attend church, read our Bible, go to work, and try to be good neighbors. Yet God doesn’t love us because of our hard work. He accepts us because of His grace. So today, whether you are far away or right in the same house, you will still be missing out until you begin to embrace Him like a son and not simply work like a servant.  Why waste one more day ? Our Father is waiting for us to join Him for a celebration knowing that all He has is ours!

The Road that Leads to Home

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”  Luke 15:32 NIV

My wife and I used to ride in separate vehicles on the way to church because I was leading the hymns at nursing home during the Sunday school hour. Usually one son went with her while the other tagged along with me. I’m still not sure what happened on that ill fated Sunday but somehow we forgot one boy at church. Chris realized something odd had happened but he didn’t panic. First he searched up and down the gradually emptying church then after he checked everywhere that he could think of he sat down on the steps and tried to think of what to do. As one of the deacons (Who thankfully was our close friend) went to lock the doors he saw Chris.

“So where’s your mom and dad?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” Chris answered shaking his head.

“If you want to ride in my truck I’ll take you home.” John offered.

Meanwhile back at home we had just realized what had happened and in embarrassment I ran out the door ready to speed back to church. Just then John’s old red truck pulled in our driveway. At that moment everyone had a smile on their faces except for me.

classic red vehicle scale model

Photo by Eneida Nieves on Pexels.com

“Forget something?” John asked with a chuckle as he opened the door and Chris hopped out. My wife and I both ran to embrace our briefly lost son. Imagine how the heart of God bursts when we come home to Him. He never forgets us even when we have forgotten Him. Instead He sent Jesus to pick us up and put us on the road that leads us safely home!

The Prodigal Father

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Prodigal- spending resources wastefully or recklessly.

This Father’s Day I can really identify with the father in the prodigal son story. It is not that I have been always loving with our own two sons but rather I would have loved it if they could have just gotten along for more than 10 minutes!

The younger son in the story Jesus tells is selfish, manipulative and foolish. It doesn’t seem to bother him at all how his father feels and he doesn’t even take the time to say goodbye to his brother.

But somewhere in the distant city where he falls below even the bottom of the barrel he wakes up. Suddenly he gets just how much he has failed and he returns home a broken young man.

On the other side of the county the older and more obedient brother is toiling away in his father’s fields. As the afternoon comes to a close he hears the sound of music and dancing from some sort of outdoor celebration. As he gets closer one of the men who works with him on the farm brings him news of his brother’s return and the restoration his father had given him.

Wow! Talk about mad! If it had been possible there would have been steam coming out of his nostrils! He could not believe that his Dad had been so foolish to give the younger brother the money in the first place. Now with this wretched failure crawling home he definitely has no idea why his Dad would celebrate. “Celebrate!” he probably muttered. “I’d like to wring his neck!”

What the good son along with most of the rest of us can’t understand is the prodigal wastefulness of our father. Our Heavenly Father’s heart is just so off the wall that we can scarcely imagine what he is thinking of.

But the father in the story had more in mind than just giving his robe his ring and his shoes to his son. Most of all in the middle of the feasting and joy the prodigal father longed that through his over-the-top forgiveness he would see the healing and restoration of everyone in his family.

Whether you are a father or not today remember that all of us have a heavenly Father who like the prodigal father longs to recklessly give us his heart and see a full restoration between us as well as all the rest of His family!