The Prodigal Son

              There are many stories in the bible that we have all heard. We know the story of Jonah and the whale, Noah and the ark and of course the nativity story and Jesus’ resurrection. But there are also many stories that we can relate directly to our lives and our relationship with God. One of those stories is the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son parable is found in Luke 15. And it goes something like this, Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 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. “The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
               After reading that you may ask, “How does that relate to us and God?” Well, we are more comparable to the prodigal son than we may think. See we are like plants in God’s garden. He places us in certain areas of this earth where he knows we can grow best. God knows what we need. But sometimes we feel that we know better than God and can go out and live our lives on our own. We think we can do it all by ourselves. But the longer we are gone the more we will start to wither and die. Eventually we will be so worn out and tired that we will come crawling back to God. God has a reason for all of this. Sometimes he lets us go on to those wasteful places and live in sin, so that we become too tired and drained and then all we want is God. God loves us enough that he will let us fail. He knows that if we fail, from then on out we will listen to what he says. Although he lets us fail, he isn’t impressed with our sins. He allows us to be crushed because he knows where we are headed, which is something greater than we can imagine. We then realize God is the only resort we have.
               God lets us fail because he desires that everybody comes to repentance. Even if you don’t go the whole way to God, you make just the slightest movement towards repentance God will come the rest of the way. If you move 1% towards forgiveness, God will go 99% towards you. He is not a halfway God. And he will not look down on you for leaving, but rather embrace you in his arms and love for coming home to him—just as the father did to his son. God gives 100% to us all the time, just as we should. We need to go all the way for God. He is with you and for you always. There is only redemption when we are in our father’s arms. He doesn’t hold us accountable for our sins. Once we are forgiven, those sins are forgotten. Set everything towards God. The first thing we must do is approach God. Second, we must then make the dedication of our lives to God.
            Let’s pray, “Jesus, I am ready. I know that you have the best plans for me. Even if I fall, you will always be there with open arms ready to welcome me home. I am ready to enter your arms and feel the warmth of your love. Change me so that I may bring others towards you. Let your light shine through me. I dedicate my life to you. In your name I pray, Amen.”

For the week, 1 John 4:16, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him"