Focal Passages: Luke 15:11-14, 17-24
I’m pretty sure every kid knows what it’s like to lose their mom in the grocery store. I used to do it all the time. I would get distracted by something on a shelf somewhere and either walk away from where my mom was standing or not realize she had moved on. The panic I felt from being outside of my mother’s gaze and protection could be dizzying. Relief only came when I realized it was better for me to be near her.
Jesus told an audience the story of a son who chose to be lost. He didn’t think the life he was being provided in his father’s household was enough. In an act of complete disrespect for his father, the son took his share of the inheritance and left to find what he thought would be a better life. But when a famine hit, the son had no money left, no food and no shelter.
More than that, he didn’t have his father to protect him. Life wasn’t better for him at all. Without his father’s protection, he was lost and in danger. And then, he didn’t even know if he was even worthy to return.
Jesus was illustrating that just like this young son, we too are lost. Because of our sin, we are separated from God. Naturally, we are predisposed to sin. When we sin, we choose to live apart from God.
Thanks be to God that He made a way for us to come back to Him! When we acknowledge God’s holiness and our sinfulness, we can have forgiveness through Christ. God is willing and waiting with open arms for us to return to Him in repentance and faith.