The Prodigal
The Prodigal
Why do we drift?
We’re not always sure; not away, just not close. We’re not meeting God daily, reading or studying His word.
We missed Him so much and now love being back.
What draws our eyes and then our actions away, ever so quietly? Is it the next “shining object” or “keeping up with the Jones”? Or, perhaps a sense of “it’s all about me,” what I want, what I like, what I deserve that draws us away little by little. Or perhaps it is a big event of injustice; on its face it is so wrong, hard, and violating. It may just be naturally hard things, whether from our choices or just “tough life” happening in our lives, that come and stack one on top of the other. These take our attention, focus, energy, and emotion.
Yet these can be the things that drive us to look deep within and say, “no, Satan.
You may be able to attack; you may even be able to take things from us. But, you cannot determine our response. These events in our lives may be the very thing we need to say, “no more.” I’m not pouring into this “dead sea” any longer. This dead sea is not what my Heavenly Father called me to do. He has more for my life than this.
He was there with open arms for us like the prodigals’ Father, seeing his son afar and knowing he was coming home and running to meet him, hugging him and celebrating his return.
How often do we think of the prodigal being a child gone astray in rebellion, sin, and corruption? Yet aren’t we prodigals when we allow good, bad, or indifferent circumstances to draw us away to minimal contact with our Father? Just giving Him lip service, but our hearts are far away, plowing in a different field.
God has a much richer, more profound, more satisfying plan, but we must come home to Him with our hearts to hear it, to know it, and to have the ability to achieve it.
I don’t like considering myself a prodigal, but every day that I drift – living the status quo, I am. Every week where I am a “Sunday Warrior” going to church and ticking the box, yet the rest of the week then going off to plowing in a different field, doing it my way, under my terms, with my cares in tow, I am. In these circumstances, I only serve my heavenly Father with lip service because my heart is nowhere near Him.
It’s easy for us to see this in others; it’s not so easy to see it in ourselves; it’s uncomfortable and doesn’t feel good.
The fantastic news is God is like the Father watching for his son, seeing him afar off coming toward home. God runs to meet him and loves on him dearly. Oh, how grateful I am to have God as my Father, who loves me that much and more.
In Luke, Jesus gives us the parable of the Prodigal Son.
“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 servants 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 servants.’ 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.”
Luke 15:13-24 New International Version (NIV)
For many of us, we may have left God altogether or maybe never knew Him. For others, we are the “Sunday Warriors” who are named “Christians” because we go to church and believe in God and His Son in our heads but not our hearts. Or perhaps we loved Him with our heads and hearts with passion at one point; over time and through activities in our lives, our desire for God has waned in the face of our focus on the life events we face each day.
Regardless of where we find ourselves today, “The Father,” our heavenly Father, is watching, waiting for us to turn our hearts in His direction. He is eager to see us turn our hearts and move in His direction. He sees us coming back to Him reading His word, not just with our heads but also with a desire to know Him with our hearts; He races toward us.
He is ready to have a party and celebrate our return to Him!
God is interested in being a part of our lives. He has so much for us, but we will miss it if we don’t spend time with Him. Whether reading and studying His Word, spending time in prayer, or making Him the first thing we go to when we wake up, God wants to direct our paths. He knows where the “potholes” are, where the explosive areas in our lives can or will be and how to avoid or press through them in peace.
He knows the plans He has for us. So in Jeremiah 29:11, He says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
It’s time to look within, turn our heads, and turn our hearts toward God. In that place, there is richness, a fullness in our well-being that is contagious and satisfying beyond our wildest dreams or hopes.
He’s ready to run with open arms to meet you right where you are if you are willing to turn to Him.
Today can you stop and consider where your focus is? Today are you willing to turn in God’s direction?
He’s watching for you.
