Who's the Prodigal Now?

This has changed my life...

There are two kinds of people:

one who runs.

one who stays.

one far and one near.

one broken and one strong.
Yet, it's not what you may think.

We're in Luke 15:11-32:
There is the younger brother, the “Prodigal” as you’ve likely heard him called before.

He runs. He chases. He searches and spends all- all that never really was his.

There is another- typically the more highly admired of the two, the elder (just wanted to use that word as opposed to older.. it makes me laugh..) of the two. He stays. He works. He is the reliable, “good” son.

If you had asked me any day from the womb to twenty-two and a half years old which son I was more like, I would have answered: “The elder”.

I would have been humbly-proud (also realizing this is nottt a thing.) to tell you how I’ve grown closer to God, how I serve Him, how I blah blah blah...

SO thankful He showed me who I really am... (BROKEN...)

You see, the older son is just as lost, if not more so than the younger.

The story tells first of the younger son’s rebellion and wandering, yet upon his decision to return to His Father’s house, the older brother’s own rebellion becomes evident.

When the Father gathers all His best to throw the feast of the century for the younger son who’s returned home, the older son refuses to go into the party. He sits on the porch. (Man do I see myself, as I imagine the older brother pouting it up on the porch..)

If you look, it is here you can see the true Prodigal of the story come to life.

Not the younger son.

Yet, neither the older son.

The Father.

Prodigal means “recklessly spendthrift”.

Who is more reckless than the Father in our story?

For both versions of his son, He seeks.

For SOME REASON, He SEEKS them out.

He waits.

He re-invites.

He recklessly spends, in both scenarios, for the sake of His son entering into His love.

We have a Prodigal Father.

A Reckless God.

A God who holds onto us, whether we live as the younger or elder brother.

I’ve walked the same roads as the younger brother. Seeking kingdoms and pleasures- all but the Father.

Yet, He held onto me in those far away places and pulled me back home.

And MANY years I’ve lived on the porch of my Father’s house.

Living blind to the depths, the pits of my pride.

Constantly rejecting my Father’s offer of grace because I didn’t see myself as someone who really needed much grace.

In my ignorance, in my disheartening rejection- He held onto me.

He never stopped coming back out to ask me to come in.

He never stopped offering me grace, after grace, after grace..

I can’t believe that.

Praise God for revealing the corruptness of my heart to me.

For, I thought I was doing fine- just as the older brother did in Luke 15. Though I was close in proximity to God, I was MUCH farther from Him than I EVER imagined.

But whether I am an older or younger brother.

A runaway or grace-rejecting son.

I am convinced of a Father who is reckless in love, full of grace and kindness, and holds on to us.

We have a Father so reckless that He gave His own Son’s life to save us.

So He could be with His children and invite us into His freedom, He gave of Himself.

How could I run away?

How could I stay on the porch?

How could I not run home, accept His grace and truly worship Him?

For, He is worthy.

(Props to Timothy Keller’s book: “Prodigal God” for pretty much all of this breakthrough.. I HIGHLY recommend the book to EVERYONE.. and any parts of this blog that don’t make sense can be credited to me.. :)) )