Loved and celebrated

Last week we looked at how Jesus is the image of our invisible Father. This week we will continue looking through scripture to see what it tells us about our Heavenly Father. One of the stories that comes to mind is that of the prodigal son.

In Luke 15, we are told the story of a man who had two sons. One of the sons could not wait for his father to die and wanted his inheritance straight away. The father gave the son his inheritance and the son left the household and went off to spend all his money partying with friends. Once he ran out of money, his friends were nowhere to be seen, and he ended up working on a farm tending to pigs. This was despicable as pigs were considered to be unclean by the Jews at the time.

Things got so bad he considered eating the pig food. He hit his rock bottom and when he did, he decided to humble himself and go back to his father’s house and ask for forgiveness and ask that he be taken back. Not as a son but as a servant.

Luke 15:20-24  says this, “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.”

As humans our propensity to mess up and make mistakes is profound. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to do things wrong. Make wrong decisions. Act with improper motives. Have wrong attitudes. The list is endless. But what we must also remember is that God’s ability and willingness to forgive and welcome us back is unlimited.

There are several things we can learn from the story of the prodigal son about the Father. The first being that the Father is not controlling. He allowed His son to make his own decisions and do things his way. Did the Father know better? 100%. Did he force the son to stay and say, “Nope, that’s not how we do things. You are going to do as I say”? No. He had taught his son his way of doing things in his upbringing. I am assuming this because this was a grown adult son not a kid, so he had grown up in his father’s house and matured and chose to go another way and the father let him. Our heavenly Father is the same. He teaches us His way of doing things but we always have a choice of what we actually choose to do or not do.

The next thing we see is that the Father did not go looking for his son. He was always aware of his son’s activities and where his son was but he did not go to remove him from the situation he put himself in. Now we can look at that and think that’s mean. Why didn’t the father go get him? Simple answer, because the son would probably have dug his heels in and have been lost forever instead of rescued.

What we also see is that the father was always looking out for his son coming home. He didn’t hear from servants that his son was coming home. The Bible says while the son was a far way off, the father saw him, was filled with love and compassion and ran to him. He wasn’t filled with anger. He wasn’t filled with disappointment. He was filled with love and compassion. In his love and compassion for his son, he didn’t wait for him to get to the house. He didn’t wait for him to apologise and beg for forgiveness. He didn’t create any more distance than there already was. Instead, he ran to his son and he closed the gap between them. When we make mistakes we want to go in the opposite direction to God but this story tell us that if we take the tiniest step towards our Heavenly Father with a humble heart, he runs in our direction!

Next we see that the father embraced and kissed his son. This is pig pen, dirty filthy son who probably hasn’t showered in a while. This tells us that God is not afraid to touch us in our mess. He doesn’t poke us with a stick from a distance holding his nose like “eww”. He grabs us, hugs us and kisses us. Yes, even when we know we have done gross disgusting things and feel worthless, he still sees value in us and he holds us. There is nothing you can do that the blood of his Son Jesus cannot cover. Papa God will never turn us away.  

We also see how the father celebrated the son. How insane is that. That’s pig pen boy who just came home and the father is celebrating him. He wasn’t celebrating any large accomplishment or some amazing feat that the son had done. He was celebrating his son being home! Oh I bet that makes the devil mad! That simple fact that we get to go back to our Papa God over and over and over again and He celebrates every time we choose Him.

Papa God is not waiting to punish us or make us feel bad about our sins. Sin has its own consequences but God’s heart is always to welcome us back and love us. Papa God’s arms are always open wide when it comes to His children. His heart is always turned towards you and He is always thinking about ways to bless you so you can be all you were created to be. Papa God’s loves for us is real and genuine and runs deep. So no matter what you did or did not do, it’s time to come home to the Father. Papa God is waiting for you. This can even be in one area of life where we have not fully accepted His love and forgiveness. Give that Him. Humbly turn towards your heavenly Father and He will come running to you!

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.