Prodigal Children

I’m a big David Crowder fan. I listen to a lot of Christian music, and while I enjoy most of it, it is rare that an artist captures how I feel or communicates the emotional connection between person and Spirit quite like Crowder does for me. That said, on his latest, American Prodigal, Crowder does it again. There are numerous great tunes on there; I’d encourage you to give them a listen. Better yet, see him live. It’s a joyous worship experience, I tell you.

The word “prodigal” stuck with me recently. It hit me one day while driving: We are all prodigal children.

You see, the problem is we’ve ALL been given a gift. Time and time again, we squander it. Like many of you, I’ve read through the story of the Prodigal Son multiple times. I don’t know if it’s like you or not, but I didn’t give it much thought.

Until recently.

I told you: God gives me way more than I credit Him. Recently, I explored the thought about how we are all prodigal children. In the story, we learn of a son who asked for his inheritance from his father and then leaves for many years. Although looking for him, the father feared for his son’s death. The son literally spent all of his inheritance, found himself in a bad situation being hungry and poor, and realized his mistakes. He begged God and his father for forgiveness. The father praised and celebrated his lost son’s return “for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:24).

That, quite simply, is what Christ does for us.

As fellow believers, I bet if you’re really honest with yourself like I was recently (and yes, I’m more honest with myself than just the one time recently), you’ll come to the same conclusion: We’ve all been given a gift. God doesn’t make us pay anything. It’s a free, no-strings-attached gift. All we have to do is say “YES” to a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s it. Nothing more. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Yet, many won’t have a relationship with Jesus. They won’t take that gift.

Why?

Some will say it’s because they don’t believe any of the story of Jesus or the words and teachings of the Bible. As a brother in Christ and I were talking recently, even the atheist’s world view is based on faith.

How so?

Any time assumptions enter into the equation (“Evolution just makes sense,” for example), faith is the basis for the belief.

My faith is in Christ.

Sometimes, I have a DNA mentality. What I mean is the sermon, the song, the sayings—they Do Not Apply to me. I found myself thinking similarly with the story of the prodigal son. But you know what—like many stories in the Bible—the story applies.

I was gifted a house that my dad built and for which my parents paid. It was given to me in my 20s. Located in rural NE Mississippi, the house offered lots of land and space. But around my mid-30s, my wife and kids felt called to move to Montana. We found a realtor that worked with us, and on faith, we moved to Montana without having any offers and no potential prospects on the place.

Three days later while we were visiting Mount Rushmore, we received an offer. Just like that, we sold the house. (I’m not even going to go into the significance of 3 days later.)

Interestingly, the work I did shifted philosophies. I tried in my own way to make it work, but after about a year and a half, I no longer enjoyed much of the work that I was doing. This was right around the time of the recession. There weren’t opportunities where we lived. There weren’t many elsewhere either. We looked in multiple states, mostly in the Eastern US.

The first and only opportunity that arose was jobs at where my wife and I had worked previously. In NE Mississippi.

So, this prodigal son returned. While living in Mississippi wasn’t completely bad this time around, a bad thing happened. My father and I became estranged. It was difficult to say the least. That difficulty lasted more than seven years. I had written some letters over the years (some kind, others not). All I know after last Christmas, my family and I visited him. While awkward at first, it was positive. I’m sure we have a ways to go, but there’s a space now for that to happen. Just like the story of the Prodigal Son, I got in the way. I think objectively one could say we both dug in; better yet, I’d say pride got in the way.

There it is—the kicker of all sins, pride.

Pride happens when the sense of self comes before the sense of Spirit. It happened to Eve. It happened with Adam. And it continues to happen with us.  Every. Single. Day. Some of us care; some of us don’t. I see the world begging for compassion and choosing to ignore it when it really matters. The desire for being right? Pride. The desire of ignoring others’ feelings? Pride. The sense our way is better? Pride.

One of the greatest humanitarians our world has ever known, Billy Graham, recently passed away. I’ve had friends whose lives were changed because of Billy Graham. I’ve seen celebrities share their testimony about how Billy Graham changed their lives. I remember when his shows came on television; I was upset because it interrupted my “regularly scheduled program.” We could pick up one channel basically, and Billy Graham was on it. My worldview of me—pride—got in the way. (Paul David Tripp talks about “kingdoms of me” in his book, A Quest for More.)

Do you think God was trying to tell me something?

Yeah, me too. But, my pride said I knew better.

And some of you reading this, you’re probably thinking, “Man, this does not apply to me.”

I get it. Sometimes, I really do think it’s in our DNA to think things Do Not Apply. And, maybe you’re right. Or, like me, maybe it’s your pride getting in the way. Again. We’ve been given a gift. This free package is waiting. All you have to do is open it. It’s as easy as ABC.

That is:

Admit you’re a sinner.

Believe in Jesus Christ’s death for our sins. He is the only way to salvation.

Confess you’re a sinner.

If I may, I’d like to add a couple more steps to the process: D & E.

Develop a relationship with Jesus. I cannot emphasize this enough. Christian living is more than a prescription for life, more than rules and rigid belief systems. Working at a relationship with Jesus is a lifelong process.

Enjoy. I wish I could tell you Christ-following is easy. It’s not. It is harder and harder every day we breathe. But, my family and I believe it is worth it, no matter the difficulties.

I guarantee you much like my earthly father and I embracing after all those years, Jesus will give you a warm embrace when you return to Him. There will be joy and celebration. And I promise you, a relationship with Christ will change your life. Christianity is not about perfection—no, far from it! You can certainly deny Christ for whatever “reason” you choose. You can adhere to your faith-based system. Or, you can follow the ABCDEs and be met with a love and compassion that surpasses all understanding. You can choose to live for this world or for something greater.

As for me, I pray you return home.

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