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Luke 15:11-24
And he said, A certain man had two sons:
And the younger of them said to his father,
Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to
me. And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after the younger son
gathered all together, and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a
mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in
want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen
of that country; and he sent him into his fields to
feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly
with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave
unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How
many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will
say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son:
make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose, and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him,
and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
And the son said unto him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no
more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring
forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring
on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill
it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was dead, and is alive
again; he was lost, and is found.
And they began to be
merry.
As Christians, we all have at one time or another heard of this story of the prodigal son.
It's been said that this is a great testament as to God's redeeming power.
And it is! It's been used to portray the jealousy and
"Pharisee spirit" of the older brother's response because of how his father
welcomed his brother IN SPITE of what his previous behavior was like.
And this is also correct. It has been used to show
God's unconditional forgiveness.
And it is very obvious here.
My favorite part though, begins at the end of verse 20:
"But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw
him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his
neck, and kissed him."
WOW.......This demonstrates the immensity of God!
This exemplifies 1 John 4:16 stated to the maximum power:
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath
to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him."
This verse indeed portrays when God
ran!
We see this story run parallel to the lives of many of us that are with Him today.
As we were still yet far away, not
recognizable from that distance to many, God, our
heavenly Father, knew it was you
or me. He saw the hurt, the pain, the
sorrow, and yes, the NEED we had and the situation
that may have forced us to start walking
towards Him. Did we have
ulterior motives? I don't know about you.
I know I did. I was hurting, tired of being sick; sick of
being tired. Sin had
laid such a heavy load on my life.
My clothes were filthy with sin, ragged and torn from the many years
of living a despicable life. The stench of my dying soul had
become unbearable to my own senses.
I had come to the end of my rope.
Yet, when He saw I was willing to give Him a chance for the
first time in over 40 years, God
ran....He ran to me! As He ran
to you! He is still running to many others with open
arms in anticipation that they will also accept Him
back. I say accept Him back because we were the ones who kicked
Him out or never allowed Him in our lives in the first
place. Still, He didn't care about the reason we shut Him out of our
lives.
He just ran.....
When He got to us He began holding, caressing, and kissing us out of His love.
Like in verse 21 we said: "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no
more worthy to be called your child!" But God didn't
point an accusatory finger in our face.
He didn't paraphrase the now famous "I told you so!"
No! He just called over His
angels and told them to come and minister to us, to take those dirty, ragged,
and stench-filled garments off our backs.
He bathed us in the blood of
Jesus, leaving us spotless, and then clothing us in His righteousness.
And then He gives us that ring,
salvation, the one that declares to the world that we are His children
and are now heirs to His kingdom.
We have our place in society, brethren.
It's not in this society, it's in the New
Jerusalem, it's the heavenly society of the Most High
God, and as His children, we own it all!
Brothers and sisters: Please do not forget who you are in Christ. You are royalty.
Not because I say so. But because the Bible makes it clear in James 2:5.
I encourage you to step out in faith and begin to live life as Jesus said
we should, more abundantly!
I am not speaking of finances here,
though I don't speak against that, either. I'm
speaking of living life to the fullest.
I'm talking about casting down your cares
and walking after Him. I speak on laying down our
fears, our guilts, our feelings of worthlessness, bitterness,
unforgiveness, and shame. Let's step out in Him today, for He has
called us to go to the world
and testify to the great works He has done for us. And
no matter how little we think we are worth, or how bad
we think we may have been, He has ELECTED US, Yes! You and ME, to
be His children. And as such we are to walk in
victory, with our heads held up high,
showing the world we are His and
He is ours!
Father, I thank You for Your never-ending love. I thank You for allowing me to go through all of the
trials so that I may share Your lessons with others.
I ask that You touch all who read this with a mighty, life-changing touch.
That they may see You as You truly are, not as the stubborn, old,
tyrannical grouch many were brought up believing You
are but as the Creator of all, the loving Father who is willing to
sacrifice His own feelings for the salvation of His
children. Father, I thank You for all You restored in my life: My
family, my lifestyle, my finances, and most of all, my
love for You! I thank You in Jesus' name, amen!
God bless you all....
Joe Acosta |
