Happy Father’s Day!

Luke 15:20 (Prodigal Son)
“…But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

The prodigal son insulted his father, took his money, and took off to a foreign country where he could live as he pleased. In this parable, this boy’s father lets him go. There is no begging, no searching for him, the father is going to let the son figure out things on his own.

When the money was gone and a famine hit the country that he was in, the boy realized his “friends” treated him the same way that he did his father (You reap what you sow).

The boy came to his senses and realized he was wrong in his thoughts and wrong in his actions, that was a good start. Then he realized he needed to go to his father and ask for forgiveness. There was no one to blame but himself, and he had to make things right.

His intent in going back home was to beg his father to be treated like one of the servants and not a son. He probably imagined the scene in his mind a hundred times before he made it home. He would bow to the ground, give this self-abased speech to his father and ask if he could just be a common servant.

As he makes the final bend to the old homestead his father sees him and comes running to meet the son. It was an unusual sight; prominent Jewish fathers did not run.

The message is simple, God is our Father. He will allow us to mess up, get things wrong, knowing full well at some point, with His Spirit drawing us, we will head back home. The Father has great grace and mercy, He will readily forgive us. He is watching, waiting with great anticipation to see us coming home.

As the Father does, He is already making plans for a celebration. For His son or daughter was dead and is alive again; he or she was lost and is found.

Some of you are too young to remember, but there was an old hymn that said, “Coming home, coming home, never more to roam, Open wide thine arms of love, Lord I’m coming home.”

Prayer:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” Happy Father’s Day Father!