Quest 31 - The Never-ending Prodigal
If you grew up in church, you know that there are certain stories that you seem to hear over and over again. It’s easy to see these stories for the 100th time, glaze over it like a Krispy Kreme donut, and move on to the next one. When I opened up our Quest reading this week I thought to myself, Oh the Prodigal Son. I know this story like the back of my hand. Yippee.
That was wrong of me though. You know why? Because God’s word is always fresh, it’s always new, it always gives you something to chew on. This week was no different.
By now through this blog and through my communication you probably know a bit of my backstory. Grew up in Church as a PK, was a mediocre football player, now I work in a church. You get it.
What you don’t see in my story is a story about running away from God completely, losing myself, and crawling back to him. Obviously, I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God many times, but in regards to a testimony…. I ain’t got one that will blow you away with how crazy it is. For that reason, every time that I have read this scripture I have always identified with the older brother. It’s generally been far easier for me to sit back, judge, and try to handle my own piousness.
This time was different. There was a realization that I may have been fooling myself for a long time. For as many times as I have been the Older, judging brother - I have also been the prodigal.
See the story lends itself to identification for obvious reasons. There are always ties to one character or the other.
But here’s the deal… If you are one who likes to describe themselves as the older brother… You are just as much of a prodigal as the younger brother.
Remember this is how the older brother acted in Luke 15:28-30, “28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’”
The older brother served, had a relationship with his father, lived in wealth, had friends, and presumably much more. That’s a wealthy, extravagant life.
Let’s look at the definition of prodigal real quick - spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.
I love Marks words - “Hard times fall especially hard on hardheaded fools.”
All this points to the fact that without even realizing it, the older brother was just as much of a prodigal as the younger brother. Rather than taking the goodness that surrounded him and sharing it with his brother that was now home, he was focused on himself and his life. Remind you of a certain younger brother?
Mark said it this way. “The parable of the prodigal son is really about two lost sons. One got lost abroad and one got lost at home.”
That is the reality for each and every one of us. Whether we describe ourselves as the younger brother or the older brother, we are all prodigals.
We have a nasty habit of taking what God has given us and then recklessly focusing on ourselves.
We get the gifts from God… Then we use it on ourselves.
We get blessed financially… Then we use it on ourselves.
We get the position of authority… Then we use it on ourselves.
What we find out is when we begin to focus on ourselves, we run out of the resources quickly. The older brother quickly ran out of resources at the party as I am guessing he was about the only one outside not enjoying the festivities.
All this is why I said today was a nice reminder to me about God’s never changing, never aging word. It’s fresh because today I felt like the prodigal son. Which one? Take your pick.
The reality is because of the sinful lives that we live, we are constantly turning into the prodigal son. Taking what God has given us and then running off with it. That’s the problem with sin, it’s destroying our lives from what God designed. Whether that is foolish spending or if it’s pride. No matter what, it is an issue we have to deal with.
1 John 1:8 says it beautifully, “ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.”
We can’t deceive ourselves. We are constantly in sin.The harsh truth is we are the neverending prodigal. Sin is a part of our lives and we just have to continue to chip away at our desires and our struggles to be who we need to be.
Our only choice from here is to run home. Either way, whether you feel like the older brother or the younger brother… The Father is opening the door to welcome you home to a celebration.
Remember this scripture, John 15:22-24, “22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
I want to be a part of that and I hope you do too.