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CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Luke 15:17–20 NIV
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“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.”
CONSIDER
These brothers. I’d like us to look at them through this fictive lens. Consider that they are twins—identical in every way except they seem to be nothing at all alike.
Brother #1, the older son, did everything right—stayed with the family business, worked hard, honored his parents, followed all the rules to the letter, became a good citizen and an upstanding man of God. Or so it seemed.
Brother #2, the younger son, did everything wrong—left the family business, cashed out his inheritance, dishonored his parents, broke all the rules with wild abandon, became a foreigner in a foreign land and, in fact, a paid slave of another master, a downtrodden reprobate. Or so it seemed.
Again, our manmade biblical headings betray the Bible. They say something like, “The Prodigal Son” or “The Lost Son.”
Here’s the revelation. Both sons were equally lost—one in desperation in the far country, the other one in deception in the family home.
The Father ran to the son who had been lost in the far country. Notice how the son responded:
The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” (v. 21)
The Father also went to his older son, who refused to see his brother, even to come into the house. Notice how this son responded:
But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” (vv. 29–31)
The condition of the older son and brother’s soul is now revealed—equally lost and still no idea of it.
There are some among us whose life and story mirrors that of the younger son. Those are the ones who write hymns like: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” There are many more among us who thankfully never had to experience the desperation of slavery to sin in the far country. Sadly, though, they have lived their lives in the quiet slavery of an assumed salvation built on their apparently good life.
It’s why we need a better understanding of sin. Sin is not bad behavior, and righteousness is not good behavior. Sin is sickness. It is like cancer. Because of the fallenness of our forbearers, everyone is born with sin cancer. Some smoke two packs of cigarettes a day and wind up suffering the awful symptoms of lung cancer. Others suffer a more silent and apparently symptom-free colon cancer and by the time it is detected they are already destroyed and there is no presenting cause. The two patients are like twins—identical in every way except they seem to be nothing at all alike.
Perhaps that’s the biggest deception of all. We think we are sinners because we sin. We don’t understand that we sin because we are sinners. Our sins are the symptoms and they can be great or relatively mild. It matters not. The sickness is capital “S” sin itself. That’s the cancer and it will kill us all.
But there is a cure. And it has a 100-percent cure rate. His name is Jesus. But you’ve got to know you are sick to ask for the cure.
That’s the big problem with the idea of a prodigal son. We are all prodigals—lost sons and broken daughters—every single one of us. We were born that way.
So which kind of prodigal are you?
PRAY
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, to reveal our real condition whether we feel it or not, whether we think we’ve got the record of a sinner or not. Open the eyes of our hearts to know and understand and perceive our true, deep sickness, which is sin. And, even more so, Lord, open our eyes to break free from the deception that we don’t sin. We’re all prodigals. And we all need to be found and rescued and set free. Come, Holy Spirit, and apply the healing blood of Jesus to our sin cancer and make us whole. In Jesus’s name, amen.
JOURNAL
What questions does this entry raise for you today?
SING
Today, we will sing “The Old Rugged Cross” (hymn 236) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
John David (J. D.) Walt Jr. is the Sower-in-Chief for Seedbed and the pastor of the Gillett Methodist Church in Gillett, Arkansas.
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8 Responses
What if they were half brothers? And since I am reborn, am I now for righteousness, and being for righteousness a saint? How can I walk in righteousness for you and with you today?
I always read the chapter and journal my thoughts before I even look at the wake up call. Something I wondered about the younger son. Why didn’t he eat some of the pods that he was feeding to the pigs? Was he already coming to his senses that if he did so it would be stealing? Was integrity and honesty being restored?
The older son. All these years I’ve been “slaving” for you..
Was he seeking his father’s approval all those years not knowing how much he was already loved and approved of? I say yes. I’ve been there. Most of my Christian Life was seeking Abba Father’s approval. I had no earthly father growing up. So I sought approval from others during my teen years before Jesus saved me. But it took me 40 years probably to really come to know the Father’s Love For Me. I am beyond grateful to say the least
It is a liberating statement to humbly and sincerely say to God or to a person: “I have sinned against Heaven and against you.” (Luke 15:21) Jesus calls that realization and confession, repentance. (Matthew 4:17)
Admitting, being sorry for, and quickly turning away from your sins is an essential part of having an intimate, ongoing, heart-to-heart relationship with God and with people. Persisting in wrongful thoughts, desires, words, and behaviors quenches God the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) It hinders and hampers your relationship with God and with people.
Repentance isn’t just a onetime prayer. It’s a lifestyle — an ongoing attitude — a heart that’s aware that it needs to continually depend on God’s mercy, forgiveness, and new birth. Jesus put it this way: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5
How’s your repentance level — high or low? When was the last time you confessed wrong thinking or wrongdoing to God and to a human being? (James 5:16)
God the Holy Spirit is nearby. (Acts 17:28) He wants to establish and maintain His government within you so that His living water can freely flow from within you. (John 7:38-39) To repent is to align your will, your thoughts, and your actions with the direct government of God (His kingdom ruling your life from within). (Matthew 6:33)
Frequently ask God to show you where you are out of His will in your thinking, your desires, your words, or your actions. Then let His light shine in your heart (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) and begin to daily realign with God’s will and with His presence. Frequently confess and repent and you will live a life that is bathed in and invigorated by God’s mercy, grace, presence, and power!
I was raised on a farm with hogs (pigs). Why didn’t he eat the pods? The scriptures calls them pods, but it was actually slop. I can’t imagine that kind of hunger. I feel that before I met Jesus, I was so lost that I ate from the world’s slop bucket.
God’s morning JD and sinners saved and cleansed by the Blood of Jesus. “The Blood is Still the Blood. The King is Still the King.”
The big problem with the idea of a prodigal son. We are all prodigals—lost sons and broken daughters—every single one of us. We were born that way.
The titles of various translation e.g. “Prodigal Son” are at times perhaps theological statements, not the WORD spoken and written.
Sin is much more malignant, deadly than we presume. Jesus is Love, blood is more is the cure and more.
Consider this, when we say “we were born that way,” a sinner “Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” (NRSV Anglican, NIV, ESV, NKJV, NASB,CJB, TLV, etc.). “I am a sinner when my mother conceived me.” It is more than born that way, it is “bad to the bone,” or from conception. There are no “innocent children or babies.”
The Gospel, Jesus saves-heals, cleanses, loves us. Jesus, the Spirit speaks to us, and I/ we are enabled to respond from conception through the grave “From Glory into Glory, till in heaven we take our place….”
“We have come to worship …. You,” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I / we sow your Word seeds as you give me opportunity, in my home, church, neighborhood… Amen
I also appreciate comments of planning for our funeral and choosing Hymns / music for our funeral. “The Old Rugged Cross” was chosen for my daddy’s funeral. May I suggest another word for funeral. “Our Home Going?” Yes we are currently in the “House of the LORD,” and being “built as the temple, house of the LORD,” and someday we will, by the loving-kindness, mercy of the blood of Jesus, be “Safe and free, for eternity, Home to be with Jesus.”
Just another note, our Band’s name is ” Brothers Walking Each Other Home.”
Lord have mercy on me a sinner.
Brother DAle,
Bible editors should consider this as The Parable of The Loving Father. Not a new idea, I know, but it seems to capture the Grace offered to both sons. As a Podigal I am thankful for the forgiveness I do not deserve for my sins against heaven and man.
JD’s comments about Bible headings are interesting. For decades, my focus has been on the “prodigal son”. When I was younger, I could take great pride and being the responsible older son who stayed home to help his family. However, as I came to understand the truth of his story, I can see that the older son was also sinning. What if this section of the Bible and the story it tells was headed with the title “the obedient and resentful son?” My entire understanding of the story would be different.
Did God put cancer on the earth? If so, why?