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Luke 15:31-32: “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

 

Isaiah 53:6: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

 

 

If we learn anything from the parable of the prodigal son, it is that these things happen in our lives. Jesus addresses it many different ways, but the pretense that we are all in perfect relationship with the Lord all of our days is not realistic and not truthful. 1 John 1:8 says: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

 

Isaiah puts it another way, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way." That is so true. We are remade in the image of God. Those of us who have been reborn into the Spirit have a new life, but the flesh cries out from time to time.

 

The enemy will often try and dig up old bones that were buried and try and get us to be reminded of our past. The more we entertain the lies and the temptation, the more we wander around like the prodigal, falling deeper and deeper into the life of the flesh. 

 

We may not go out spending money on prostitutes and drinking, but when we revert back to the life before Jesus, we can get lost pretty quickly.

 

Grace is such a powerful word and action. It has been diluted and changed in meaning over the years, but Grace is Grace and with Jesus it is unconditional. 

 

What the prodigal son teaches us is that regardless of what we do and who we are as a human being, we are still wanted by our Father. We are still acceptable and valuable to Him. 

 

We can be eating out of the pig food one minute, and in the next, make the decision to come back into relationship with the Lord and have the fatted calf slaughtered for us and the king's robe wrapped around us.

 

The Lord never grows tired of us and our antics. He wants us close to Him no matter what and with Jesus we have that assurance and promise.

 

We are never so far off course that we cannot change directions. No matter what we have done or who we think we are, we can always come home to the Lord. The prodigal son had made the decision in his mind that his worth was that of a slave or hired servant. He never dreamed that his father would accept him and reinstate him as his son. He only thought that being at least in his father's control, that he would have food to eat.

 

With our Father, He will always provide more than we need. We can take all of our worldly thoughts of what we deserve off of us completely. It is never as good or bad as we may think and yet when we decide to go to the Lord, it is the Lord Himself who determines what we deserve. Through Jesus, even though we have turned to our own way, has had the iniquity of us all laid on Him. We do not have to walk around in that iniquity anymore. 

 

If you feel that you are astray, or that you don't deserve the Grace of the Lord then this is for you today. I encourage you to make the decision to turn and walk toward the Lord today. Let Him rejoice in you. Let Him make a big deal and receive you with open arms. Do not be afraid to go to Him. The party is waiting for all of us were dead but alive, and those of us who were lost but now we are found.