Come Home

11 Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.' 13 It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. 14 After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. 15 He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. 16 He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. 17 "That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. 18 I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19 I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' 20 He got right up and went home to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.' Luke 15:11-21

I've always loved this portion of Scripture.  It's interesting to me though that we usually focus on the son in the story  when we should be focusing on the graciousness of his father.  The son really didn't do anything wrong, it was perfectly legal for him to ask for his share  and even to sell it according to Jewish law, but it certainly wasn't very loving.  It was a slap in the face, it was disrespectful, it was disgraceful.  It shouted, I wish you were dead so I could have more stuff!  But look closer.... all he really wanted was something he didn't have, all he wanted was a better life for himself, some newer and nicer things....now, not later.  Sound familiar?  You can never enjoy the things money can buy if you ignore the things it cannot buy.  You are on a path to destruction.  

So what happened..... his loving father gave him what he wanted,  (be careful what you ask for) and it turns out it wasn't as great as he thought it would be.  He ran out of money, food, his friends left him, and he was forced to do for a stranger what he wouldn't do for his own father--work.  Sin promises freedom, but it only brings slavery.  He thought he would go out and "find himself" and turns out he lost himself.

But look at verses 16 on...he was broken.  He was finally at the point where he was in complete need of his father.  Pride was gone, (he wanted to eat out of the pigs slop)  he recognized he was a sinner, and he was wrong.  He wanted to go home.  Imagine him rehearsing the speech he had planned over and over again in his head as he approached home.  Stomach turning from hunger and anxiety, did he want to give up and say forget it?  But, where would he go if he did?  I'm sure as he tried to collect his thoughts his palms were sweating.  Guilt and shame were his new identity, how could he be so stupid?  What would his father say?  

Before long, he wouldn't have to wonder because his father saw him coming.  (gives you of a picture of his father waiting for his return)-- He ran to his son.  

In some studying I found something very interesting about his running.  You see in the East, old men do not run, yet this father ran to meet his son.  Why?  Well, one obvious reason was his love for him and his desire to show that love.  But something even cooler.....this wayward son had brought disgrace to the family and to their village, and according to Deuteronomy 21:18-21, he should have been stoned to death.....if the neighbors had started to stone him, they would have hit the father who was embracing him!  What a picture of the cross!!  Oh my goodness the Bible is awesome! 

If you read the rest of the story, you find that everything the son wanted to find out in the world, he found at home.  The father not only welcomed him home, he honored him and celebrated with him.  He didn't have to do anything to earn the father's forgiveness...just recognize he was a sinner (confess), leave the place he was (repent) and go home, trusting his father would receive him.  And he did just that.  

Does any of this resonate with you?  Do you need to leave the place you are, and go home?  Some people avoid coming home at all cost because of pride.  What will it take for that pride to be broken?  Need I remind you that if you are a child of God, He will do whatever it takes to get you back because nothing will pluck you out of His hand.  What will it take?  Come home.  Quit fighting it, and come home.  Quit making excuses, and come home.  Quit listening to lies, and come home.