The Prodigal Parent

It's an interesting portrait Jesus paints as He tells the story of a young man who was lost long before he ever got lost and was found long before he ever realized he was never lost.

Because it is a parable and because Jesus is teaching about how God views things that get lost, who knows how long the younger of the two sons had dreamed about living beyond his means and certainly living free from the provision of his surroundings.

Such is humanity.

There is always the potential of 'grass is greener' type of living which has for many lead to some pretty remarkable decisions. Equally, and in too many instances this same view point has lead to more than one devastating outcome.

In this parable, widely known as 'The Prodigal Son', the young lad asks for an early withdraw of his inheritance and after a few days of the cash burning a hole in his tunic, sets off to a wild spending binge.

The word prodigal means extravagant or wasteful. You should take a minute and read up on this particular parable, and because Jesus is telling the story, it ends well.

The point?

NO MATTER HOW WASTEFUL YOU ARE - THERE'S ALWAYS MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM!

Now, you may not like that but you'll have to take it up with my boss - he's the one telling the story.

Are there consequences? Yes. Did people get hurt? Yes. Hopefully lesson learned. I say hopefully, because in the parable Jesus doesn't elaborate on whether the son learned a lesson from his extravagant and wasteful attitude about life. Nor does there exist in the content of the parable a guarantee his actions won't be repeated.

Now here is the distinct difference between us and God.

Too often, our love, support and welcoming back of the wayward is tied in part or in whole, to whether a lesson was learned and whether or not sufficient evidence exists that the wayward will be so no longer - as is demonstrated in the attitude of the older son.

Not God. He is neither one son or the other. He's the Father.

The reality, and again the point of the parable remains; while we knuckle-head our way through life, God is always at the ready ... He's always there.

Think about this for a minute. Slow your shutter speed down. Do you think God is in relationship with you in an effort for you to be better ... or for you to be the son or daughter He's always wanted?

I've got some life freeing news for you. He doesn't give a rip whether you get better or not. He just gives a rip about you.

Fast forward now to the 21st. century. What about parents?

So many parents are prodigal when it comes to the inheritance stored up for them in the right living of their families. Hell bent on spending their fortunes now, parents are wasting precious moments that won't soon be back.

What is our position towards these parents? Will we continue to serve around them in an effort to 'reach' their children? THEIR children?? And if we do, aren't we dangerously, if not outright saying, they're not worth our time or effort to reach them?

The father in the parable stood for his wasteful, extravagant son when no one else would. Not his friends, not his brother, not the people who hired him to feed the hogs - no one. Just a lone father standing his post.

I have to tell you. If you want to be effective in reaching others, particularly parents, you better be like the father Jesus talks about in the parable. You'll have to lay aside whether a lesson learned will yield a better result. And you'll need to retrain your calculations on what an outcome is.

You'll have to be prodigal yourself.

When everyone else gives up and goes home because it doesn't make any sense to wait ... you'll have to risk looking like the only one who is willing to 'waste' your time on the wayward parent.

Here's today's question; Am I willing to accept the point of the parable?

If you are, please find a parent and be the father - enjoy effectiveness!

Dan
Illuminating the Darkness