T11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”
Wow. I've read this parable countless times and it never looses its kick. Like, after everything that the son did to his dad. By asking for his inheritance early he was basically telling him "yo, I don't care if you're alive or dead. Either way, I want your money right now.✌️" then he took his money and bounced and spent it on all this stuff he didn't need maybe on some drinks and whatnot and then ended up taking car of pigs. And it wasn't a common thing to take care of pigs..... Actually I still don't think it's a common thing to take care of pigs. But anyway, he's working on probably the job that has the lowest amount of respect and is working with animals that are considered the filthiest and he's starving and just not having a fun time. So this life that he went and sought out and expected to be full of riches and fun and glory, ended up being the complete opposite.
I see that in sin in our lives. Personally, I used to be a huge fan of partying. I went and sought out all of it. Drinking, drugs, boys, the typical. Shows and movies and people made it seem like this great life with no worries so I was like, shot, I wanna be apart of this. It's not though. Like wow. It's lonely and depressing and the only thing you can really be happy about is if you wake up the next day without a hangover or you don't end up getting pregnant or you don't get caught for smoking weed. Like, those aren't goals that I want in my life. And I am so stinking happy that God has changed my heart towards desiring those things.
Anyway, this kid realizes the mess that he's in and thinks "well, my dad feeds his servants meals. I know he's not going to take me back as his son because of everything I've done, but maybe, just maybe he'll let me work for him. So he packs up his bags (but honestly he probably didn't have anything because he was working for pigs) and he headed back home.
This is the cool part of the story though. So he's walking back, and he's still a little bit aways from his house, but he can see it. And his dad, I picture, is sitting on the porch of the house, probably praying to God that his son would come back, and he looks up and he sees his son walking towards the house. And this is the important part right here. The son probably expected the dad to be angry, probably expected the dad to tell him to leave and never come back, I'm sure there were multiple scenarios playing in the sons mind. What does the dad do though? He runs toward his son. He jumps over the porch and full on sprints towards his son. Sprints. In this time it was HIGHLY looked down on for a man to run. It was thought of to be childish and intended only for children. But did he care? NO!! He was so stinking pumped that his son was back. All he cared about was loving his son. He didn't ask what he did with the money. He didn't ask why he came back. He didn't say he was dissipointed or angry. He said welcome back and then threw a HUGE party in celebration.
And that's an example of an earthly fathers response. Imagine the excitement and joy and just like. Wow. You can't. You can't imagine what heaven is going to be like and I find that so crazy. But just like, think about what it could be like when you stand at the gates of heaven and not only you, but all your fellow believers get to go in and spend eternity with God. When you finally get to go to your real home. All the sins you committed, they aren't going to matter to God. He's already forgiven them anyway if you've asked for forgiveness. The only thing that's going to matter is Him. And just think about the excitement and joy and love that will be radiating from Him when he sees all his children who believed and followed and loved Him are going to be all together, with Him, for eternity. That. That is going to be one heck of a party..
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