I am reading a book called "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller. (My pastor LOVEs to give us books.) Tim Keller is a minister in New York that has a good sense of the gospel and how it should move us. He took this famous parable and gave it an interesting name change. His idea is that the parable is about 2 lost sons, and the Father's prodigal giving for them.
prod-I-gal- adjective
1. recklessly extravagant
2. having spent everything.
I must admit that I am the eldest son. I am a Pharisee. I thrive on control and order and ultimately I rely on my own "goodness" far too often. I like the accolades of a job well done. I can be judgmental and sadly- self righteous. It is not a pretty picture. Reading back over the last few sentences, I sound like a pretty crummy person.
Thank goodness the Story of The 2 Lost Sons gives us hope as elder sons. God, our Father, seeks out and begs us to come into his love and the feast he has set before us. Unfortunately, our pride gets in the way. We choose to stay angry and sit outside the door of the party. Can you say stubborn or strongwilled??? I can. But God our Father wanted us in the party. So he sent someone to us to help us deal with our sinfulness. Jesus, our brother, came into this world to be the ultimate BIG BROTHER. He wanted to make things right between his younger brothers and his Father so he went to the cross. At the cross he paid for my sinfulness, my arrogance, my self righteousness and my need for complete control. When Calvary was finished, I the elder son, could go into the party and accept the Father's love. It was finished. The is no more "working" to be good enough or being judgemental of others because I want to appear better than them.
I can now come to my Father reunited in that redeeming love and have relationship with him because Jesus paid it all.
I was listening to a song today and it seemed to fit with this book so well. It is a song I found for my Peanut's adoption party. (She laugh if she knew I was calling her that.) It talks of a child waiting for a place to come home- and as I was driving today pondering the book and pondering about my new life God has thrust upon me. I thought... hmm... God is trying to make a point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZ5hF-qZDY
"When Love takes you in, everything changes.
The miracle starts. With a beat of a heart
When Love takes you home, and says you belong here.
The loneliness ends, and a new life begins.
When Love takes you in."- lyrics
My personal paraphrase:
When God takes you in, everything changes.
The miracle starts with the beat of a heart.
When God takes you home, and says you belong here.
The extreme loneliness ends and you are born again.
When LOVE takes you in.
The Father in the story loved his sons equally for different reasons. One son ran and greeted his dad and was very relieved for the love. However the eldest son stood back and waited for his father to come to him. When the Father finally came to him, this son was angry. To know that God does pursue his children and longs to love them no matter who they are. He longs for us. He longs for me to let down my pride, my self-rightness, my own justifications. Just lay them down and enjoy the Creator, The father, our God.
So I will try to live as an adopted daughter of the Father. I will be quieted in his Love and bask in his presence, knowing that I will never be enough. God provided Jesus to be enough.
"And his love will never let you go, There is nothing that could ever cause this love to loose its hope. "
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