The parable of the prodigal son shows the Lord’s dealing with those who have once known the Father’s love, but who have allowed temptation to lead them captive.
“A man had two sons. The younger told his father, ‘I want my inheritance now, instead of waiting until you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and left for a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living.” (Luke 15:11-13)
His father’s love and care for him were misinterpreted, and he determined to have fun. The prodigal is not thankful; yet he claims the privilege of a child in sharing his father’s goods. He is bent on present enjoyment, and does not care for the future.
With money in plenty, and liberty to do as he likes, he flatters himself that the desire of his heart is reached. There is no one to say, “Do not do this, for it is wrong; or, Do this, because it is right.” Evil companions help him to plunge deeper into sin, and he wastes all his assets.
A famine comes and he feeds pigs to eat. To a Jew this was the most degrading of employments. The youth who has boasted of his liberty, now finds himself a slave.
The glitter and friends that enticed him have disappeared, and he feels the burden of his chain.
Broke, hungry, pride humbled, his moral nature dwarfed, he is the most wretched of men.
Like the ungrateful son, the sinner claims the good things of God as his by right. He takes them as a matter of course, gives no thanks, renders no service of love.
The mind that God created for the companionship of angels has become degraded to his carnal lusts.
If you have chosen such a life, the time comes when you feel your misery, and in despair cry, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24.)
God yearns over all who have chosen to separate from Him and sets in operation influences to bring them back. The prodigal in his wretchedness “came to himself.” He realized that his suffering was the result of his own choices. Miserable as he was, the prodigal found hope in the conviction of his father’s love and it drew him toward home.
It is the assurance of God’s love that woos the sinner to return to God. The Lord declares, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
Little did the prodigal, as he left, dream of the ache in his father’s heart. He does not know his father is watching for his return. But while he is yet “a great way off” the father sees him. Not even the degradation of sin can conceal the son from the father’s eyes who “had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck” in a long, clinging, tender embrace.
Retired Seventh-day Adventist columnist Ian Cotton adapted this from Christ Object Lessons. He can be reached at icotton@telus.net.