THE PRODIGAL SON

One of the best examples of the love of God, we find in "the parable of the prodigal son" (Luke 15: 11-32). The younger son showed a lack of love and respect when he asked for the inheritance that he should receive only after his father's death. He further demonstrated how irresponsible he was,"leading a distraught life," and squandering the fortune for which his father had probably worked hard. He did not come to “his senses” until he was forced to work with pigs to survive. Pigs were part of the unclean animals, and they were an abomination to the Hebrews. Humility and lack were hard to endure, but only when he got to his lowest, did he realize how he had ruined his life and that he would be much better off returning to his father as one of his servants. The once arrogant young man, finally realized how much he had wronged his father and did not deserve to be his son anymore.

Luke 15:20-24 ““And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.””

The father not only welcomed him, but ran to meet him, hugged and kissed him dearly. Instead of receiving the treatment he deserved, the prodigal son was treated by his father as if he was the best, most loving and obedient son. The father honored him with the best clothes and a royal reception, serving the most delicious foods, as he wanted everybody to rejoice with him because his son who "was dead and now was risen; was lost and now was found." 

This is how the Heavenly Father is about all who return to Him. We all have treated God with disrespect, irreverence and wasted the inheritance of eternal life for all the years we lived apart from Jesus. There are not many who repented when everything was going good in their lives. Most people come to the Lord only after they have reached their braking point and were out of solutions. No matter how small or great the sins are of each one of us, we have all sinned, and the most serious sin was that we did not accept the sacrifice of Jesus for us. But when the Holy Spirit convicted us of sin and we understood that we needed a Savior, it was enough to call on Jesus, repent and ask Him to be our Lord, to become born-again. The Lord runs to meet every “prodigal” son who returns "home" and ““... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”” (Luke 15:10).

In His love, the Lord does not look at the disobedience, the rebellion or the gravity of the sins we repent of. God treats everyone of us as a beloved one. This is what He has always done and will continue to do until Jesus returns on the clouds to take us to heaven.

When Jesus became the Lord of our lives, we stopped wandering and found the “way” to true life. Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life." He is the only way to God the Father (John 14: 6), and when we leave this world behind, we will enter into real life, the eternal life in His presence. 

1 John 4:18a “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment...”

If we live in obedience to the Lord and wish to please Him, we have nothing to fear about. Jesus says ““And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”” (Matthew 10:28). We have no reason to fear men, because if our bodies would be killed, our souls and spirits would simply and instantly be in heaven. The only fear we need is “the fear of the Lord” to keep us on the right path.

Carmen Pușcaș