back from the dead

''... for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'

And they began to celebrate.'

Luke 15.24

If we put ourselves in the wrong place then we miss the meaning entirely. The story is the prodigal son. We are not fit to be the father and we very rarely deserve the position of the older son, if ever. We have to assume the part of the younger son. We have to realise the truth of the story in our own lives and accept the consequences. I see the life mapped out in mine only too clearly. The desire to have pleasure and satisfaction right now with no sense of work or cost. The desire to be free of responsibility to others, to pursue a life of new experiences and doing what i want when i want. The question is not whether or not i am the younger son, the question is what i do when i find myself in the same state as he and finally realise it. When i see that all i am eating is the food of pigs and that my state is one of filth and waste. What do i do now?

Do i choose to return to my father on my knees in deep, sincere sorrow and regret? Or do i keep wallowing in the hope that things will improve or the lie that they're not really that bad? That is the real question. It takes alot of guts and a lot of humility to return. Either that or a very real awareness that it is the only option left. The father doesn't question why the son has returned, he only cares to see him again, to hold him again. When i return to God on my knees he picks me up again and rejoices over me. Confessed sin is forgiven sin and forgiven sin has no hold over me. One thing remains.

'And they began to celebrate.'

Together!