Living with the Father - The Christian Online Magazine

There was a man who had two sons. And the younger son said, "Father, I am tired of hanging out here. I want my part of the inheritance now." And so the father gives it to him. The son goes to what is called a distant country and has a great time--by his standards. His experience is described as fun, frivolity, and loose living until all the money was gone. He ends up taking a job as a hired hand on a farm feeding pigs. After living with the pigs for a while he realizes he would be better off as one of his father’s hired servants. He says to himself, "I will go back to my father. I will see if he will take me in as one of his hired servants, as an employee of his farm because my dad treats his employees better than I am getting treated here." He goes back. The father sees his son coming down the road. He gets up and does something men of his age normally do not do, he ran. He ran down the road and in Luke 15:20 it says, "He threw his arms around him and embraced him and kissed him."

The story goes on to describe the older brother’s reaction. "That is not fair. I have been here the whole time and I never got a party." The older brother should have been happy that his brother was back. But he was not and for that the father rebuked him. And that was Jesus’ core message. Recognize, we are the younger son. We are the ones who are not doing everything right, who have not kept all the laws, who have not followed every statute. And actually, no one has! Jesus tells this story so that we will understand God’s heart. God longs for reconciliation. The self-righteous Pharisees were the older brother in Jesus’ story because they were unforgiving and had a heart that was far from God’s.

We can learn some things from this story. We must be careful that we do not end up thinking like the older brother. We start to get our lives in line and then we see somebody coming into our church or see somebody else who comes to Christ and they have all these things we hate, they do not dress modestly or conservatively, they do not look respectable, they do not behave properly, they do not talk like we do, they do not smell like we like them to smell. They just do not do things our way. We almost think that they do not deserve God’s grace. Or rather, we do think they do not deserve God’s grace!

But the Father says, "Do not despise what I love. I have been waiting for my son, my daughter for 20, 40, 50 years to come back to me and, yes! they have some baggage, but they are back, so rejoice." The message for us is to not be self-righteous to where we cannot love others, where we cannot be sensitive and kind to those who need it. But also, and I will say more importantly, for us to recognize that we are that brother because we have all wandered away and squandered some good thing God has given us. But then you turn around and start walking back toward the Father. He runs to you and says, "Welcome back. Please do not do that again because it is messing up your life, but welcome back. Come back into my household and live."

There are three key truths that we see in this story. First, we see that God is for you. This does not mean that God is for you, that He exists to take care of your wants and needs like some kind of cosmic genie. But it means that God is for you, not against you. God longs for your good, longs to have a relationship with you. He cares about you, He is for you. Secondly, God is for your best. He wants nothing but the best for you. He wants right relationships, right priorities, things that truly will fulfill your heart. He does not want you going through your life being cheated out of what He could do with your life. He is for your best. And thirdly, He is for your development. You are not at your best yet, so He is going to be working through things and bringing things into your life that will help you to develop.

Look at Luke 15. In verse 20 it says, "he ran and embraced him and kissed him." He is for you. In verse 22 we see that He wants nothing but your best. The father said, "bring the best robe, bring the family ring, bring sandals, his feet are bruised and raw from walking barefoot across these fields and on these roads." He wants the best for you. In verses 12 and 18 we see the son’s development. In verse 12 the son foolishly said "Father, give me the share." In verse 18 he said, "I will get up and go to my father. Before I could not wait to get away, now I want to go back." God is working for our development, on the choices we make, so that we, like the younger son, will long to live in the Father’s house.

Look at Proverbs chapter 3. Picture this father and his young son sitting on the front porch after a long day’s work. The sun is beginning to set and here are the words of the father to his son. Here is what this father and his God would be saying to his son, which is us, on the front stoop trying to get us to understand. "My son, do not forget my teaching but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life and bring you prosperity or peace. Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and have a good name in the sight of God and of men." Can you hear the father wanting to pour this truth and emblazon it on his son’s heart and life? If the son listens it will change his life. It says in verse 5, a verse we have all looked at many times, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him," recognize He has a hand in the things that are going on, "and he will make your paths straight." He will direct your walk. He will tell you, show you, lead you in the way to go. Do not think you can be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, respect what He says and shun evil. There are going to be things coming at your doorstep every day that are going to try to wheedle their way into your life. The fences are to keep the wolves out, not just to keep you in. Shun evil because it will destroy your life. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. It will help you stand straight and tall. "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will be filled to the brim with new wine." Does this sound like this is going to help the father? Does this sound like it is of benefit to dad? Or is it for the son the father pleads?

Do you sense the intense personality, the personal involvement of the father? Over 30 times in ten verses the direct pronoun "you" is used. You my son. It is for you. God is for you. Because He is for you He gives all these directives. Directives are things we do not like. They boss us, they say we have to do this or that, but when given by God they are for our benefit. It says in various places, "You do not forget my teaching." "You keep my commands." "Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck." "You write them on your heart." "You trust in the Lord." "You do not lean on your own understanding." "You acknowledge God." "You do not be wise in yourself and your own ways." "You honor the Lord with your wealth." "You bring the first fruits of your crops to God." God’s gives personal, individual commands because there are personal and individual blessings that come with them. "Son, I love you so much and the greatest gift I can give you is to help you understand how life works." He tells him about all the blessings that will come with faithfulness to God and His ways. It will prolong your days, bring you prosperity, peace, you will win favor and have a good name in the sight of men and of God. It will make your paths straight. It will contribute to a healthy body and strong bones.

He is for you so He gives you directives. He is for you because He wants to bless you. But notice that all these blessings are tied to the directives in a conditional way. If you do this, then this will happen. "If you are real good, you will get this later." Is that not exactly what he is saying here? "Do this, trust me, it is going to work out. And you are going to see as a direct result." It all involves our choices and who we decide to model ourselves after, whose commands we listen to. Repeatedly it says things like "with your heart," "with your mind," "let your way be straight," "give of the firstfruits of your crops." It is designed to be a personal thing. He is for you. He is for your best and He is for your development. These blessings that God gives are tied directly to the blessings that He wants to pour out upon our lives. But some of the things He is talking about here are pretty hard. They involve a huge change in the way we do things and sometimes those are pretty tough to get over. But the change is necessary.