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Spreading His Wings
Picture the father as he watched his emboldened son put things together in his backpack, ready to leave home. Maybe he asked his son where he was going, what his plan was for employment, what his dreams were for his future. Who knows what answers the son gave. They probably weren’t encouraging, at least to the father. The son, meanwhile, was more than likely ready for the good times ahead.
After all, why not? He was young, adventurous, had some cash to spend and a world to see. Life on the family farm probably seemed dull and boring in contrast to all the possibilities that the world presented to him.
Read Luke 15:13–19. What kind of repentance do we see here? Does it seem like a true repentance, that he’s sorry for what he did, or that he is sorry only for the consequences of what he did? What hints are there in the texts that could give us the answer?
It’s hard to know how this story might have turned out had things gone well for the prodigal. Suppose he found ways to keep the money flowing in and to keep the good times coming? It’s not likely, at least from what we see here, that he would have been coming back “on his knees,” is it? Who among us, at times, hasn’t been really sorry, not so much for our sins but for the consequences of them, especially when we get caught? Even the hardest pagan is going to be sorry he committed adultery if, in the process, he picked up herpes, gonorrhea, or some other sexually transmitted disease. There’s nothing Christian about sorrow for the pain that comes from our wrong choices, is there?
What, then, about this young man? Though there’s no question the terrible circumstances he found himself in brought about a changed attitude that might not have otherwise occurred, the thoughts of his heart, as revealed in the texts, do reveal a sense of true humility and a realization of the fact that he sinned both against his father and against God. The speech he prepared in his heart did seem to show the sincerity of his repentance.
Sometimes we need the bad consequences of our actions to awaken us to the reality of our sins, don’t we? That is, only after the suffering comes from our actions do we truly repent of those actions, and not just from the results. What about yourself and whatever situations you’re facing now? Why not choose to avoid the sin and spare yourself all the sorrow and the repentance that (one hopes) will follow?
| MONDAY | May 30 |
Picture the father as he watched his emboldened son put things together in his backpack, ready to leave home. Maybe he asked his son where he was going, what his plan was for employment, what his dreams were for his future. Who knows what answers the son gave. They probably weren’t encouraging, at least to the father. The son, meanwhile, was more than likely ready for the good times ahead.
After all, why not? He was young, adventurous, had some cash to spend and a world to see. Life on the family farm probably seemed dull and boring in contrast to all the possibilities that the world presented to him.
Read Luke 15:13–19. What kind of repentance do we see here? Does it seem like a true repentance, that he’s sorry for what he did, or that he is sorry only for the consequences of what he did? What hints are there in the texts that could give us the answer?
It’s hard to know how this story might have turned out had things gone well for the prodigal. Suppose he found ways to keep the money flowing in and to keep the good times coming? It’s not likely, at least from what we see here, that he would have been coming back “on his knees,” is it? Who among us, at times, hasn’t been really sorry, not so much for our sins but for the consequences of them, especially when we get caught? Even the hardest pagan is going to be sorry he committed adultery if, in the process, he picked up herpes, gonorrhea, or some other sexually transmitted disease. There’s nothing Christian about sorrow for the pain that comes from our wrong choices, is there?
What, then, about this young man? Though there’s no question the terrible circumstances he found himself in brought about a changed attitude that might not have otherwise occurred, the thoughts of his heart, as revealed in the texts, do reveal a sense of true humility and a realization of the fact that he sinned both against his father and against God. The speech he prepared in his heart did seem to show the sincerity of his repentance.
Sometimes we need the bad consequences of our actions to awaken us to the reality of our sins, don’t we? That is, only after the suffering comes from our actions do we truly repent of those actions, and not just from the results. What about yourself and whatever situations you’re facing now? Why not choose to avoid the sin and spare yourself all the sorrow and the repentance that (one hopes) will follow?
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