Dear People Who Keep Company With God,

I believe The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 continues to be a very relevant word to the church. The revelation of God as our Father resonates throughout the story. If the father in the story was absent or even present, but not engaged, it would be just another sad and tragic tale of a broken home and broken people. Fortunately, he is very present and the central participant.

Lost & Found PhotoLike the younger brother there are many believers, mostly on the younger side who are on the road to self-discovery. They are not satisfied with their parent’s version of Christianity. They want in on the action. They desire to know why they are here and what is their purpose. They wonder if they really matter and if they do, how and where do they make a difference? Their identity is important to them. They highly value authenticity and genuineness. We need to give attention to their cries lest the enemy rob us of what this generation brings to the table.

In the Parable, the younger brother went to his father one day and asked a question. He said, “Father, don’t you think it is time for you to give me my share of the estate that belongs to you?” In that culture and time that may have been an insult, the son wishing his father was dead. But what if Jesus is telling us something, transcending culture and time? What if in our generation and time the Father is stirring us to seek out our share of His estate? I think He is.

Here is the issue. The younger brother made a terrible mistake because he left the presence of the father and went into the world seeking his purpose and identity. The results were devastating to him. If the father had not been there for him when he returned. He would have died.

Now, let’s look at the older brother in the story. He is more like the older generation. Unlike his younger brother, he never went out seeking his purpose or identity. He never left home. He stayed and pursued moral conformity as a means of earning favor from his father.

The church has majored on the cause for morality for years. Morality is important, vital actually, for living a healthy and whole life. We can acquire all sorts of disease, mental issues and broken relationships as a result of living an immoral lifestyle. But somehow we are not communicating morality right. It is coming across as legalism or holier than thou and as a result, many like the older brother are seething with anger, bitterness and resentment.

The younger brother forsook the presence of the father and the older brother remained in the house physically with the presence of the father, but his heart was far from him. The sad thing for the older brother is he got his share of the estate the same time the younger brother got his, but never knew it. His heart could not connect with it and the story ends with the younger brother restored to the presence of the father and his rightful place while the older brother is left on the outside looking in and angry at the father and everything else.

We don’t need to be the younger brother that pursues purpose and identity in the world apart from the Presence of our Heavenly Father, nor the older brother who believes moral conformity is a way to earn favor from the Father. As the sons in the story, we are being invited into a deeper revelation of grace and the Father’s heart.

Many Blessings, BW

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