Memorize: Prodigal son is received
Key Verses: 7, 13, 16, 21, 28, 32
God likes it when we repent, turn back to Him and acknowledge our sins. The math is not what is important. 100 to 1, 10 to 1, 2 to 1. What God desires is for people to turn back to Him. It makes no difference how far someone has wandered in their journey of sin. What matters is that they return. The son who wasted his inheritance and his life recognized that he had sinned against both his father and against God. And he goes to make it right with his father. When we repent we need to repent toward God and toward those we have hurt here on earth.
The father had been waiting, longing for his son to return. God longs for us to return. When we do, that is all that God focuses on. The sin just doesn’t seem to matter. When we return it brings joy to God. It also results in our burden being lifted. But others who have been hurt by your sin might not be as happy to receive your repentance as genuine. Their pain might stand in the way of their acceptance of you. The older brother had this problem. He saw the unfairness of the father’s forgiveness and his own bitterness and bad attitude come to the forefront. He is even mad at his father for accepting his brother back into the family.
It is interesting that the older brother considers the wealth given by the father to his brother as his father’s property. Part of that is due to the break in protocol that happened when his brother asked for his inheritance. This should only happen after the father’s death, so the older brother disagreed with the father’s decision to give in to the younger brother’s impulsive decision.
The father’s joy is emblematic of the Heaven’s joy when a sinner repents. Nothing delights the Father like someone accepting the gift of forgiveness. And yet so many people reject this gift, and so many act like the older brother when someone they decide does not deserve forgiveness. If the Father accepts them, we should as well, and open our arms wide to receive them into the family.
The Arnold Journey 