Thursday, March 1, 2018
READ Luke 15
MEDITATE on Luke 15:32, "It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” The older brother was resentful because his father did not reward him for his faithfulness, but his heart attitude was unfaithful to his father's. How is this so?
REFLECT
There are two ways that I feel like we read the Prodigal Son parable. The most common way is we relate to the younger son, admitting we've been wasteful and foolish but thankful that our father welcomes us back, forgives us, and restores us. If we revel in this story of redemption, we may be taking God for granted. A second common way of reading the story is to focus on the older brother's heart attitude where he held judgment toward his younger brother and upholds his own sense of righteousness in comparison. He cannot see the beauty of grace that welcomes his brother home.
Every parable has a certain goal. Jesus' goal, as he was confronting selfishness in people, was to point out the heart attitude of the older brother. My question today is, do I desire to see and rejoice to celebrate the welcoming and restoring of sinners back to our Father God? The older brother could not celebrate because he did not seem to care about a lost brother/son being brought back into the fold. Maybe he was worried about money and his inheritance. Maybe it offended his sense of principles. In any case, he was cold.
The restoring of a sinner to God is actually our God-given mission. It is something we ought to be excited to witness.
PRAY
Pray for a heart that loves what God loves, sharing your faith and getting excited when lost are found.
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