Genesis 37-38; Psalm 7; Luke 15

Luke 15:25-32

Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf."

But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him."

And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.”

I had always seemed to identify more with the non-prodigal son. Having been saved at an early age I didn’t really go through a rebellious period or have a radical transformation that brought me crawling home to my Father. I can remember kids in my youth group being celebrated for coming to Christ after years of being wild. But what about me? I had never left or lived in that kind of sinfulness. Where was the party for me?

The non-prodigal is angry and thinks it’s unfair to have a party for the returning brother. What I came to understand was, like this son, I was a prodigal in my heart. Though my body was never in a far off land. My insides were off squandering the riches of my Father’s estate.

But I’m home now, heart and all. I can avail myself of the riches my Father willingly shares with me. I celebrate with gratefulness the fact that I was spared the regrets and the pain an era of rebellion would have yielded. And I stand at the ready to rejoice with my Father when one of His who was lost is found and home safely.