“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’”
Luke 15:25-32
Questions for Reflection:
When is it hard for you to join in the party when the celebration is about someone else receiving restoration or undeserved grace and favor? What are the circumstances this is an issue for you?
What is revealed about the Father's character from this part of the parable is particularly uplifting for you?
Prayer of the Week:
My dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You now to be restored in You, to be renewed in You to receive Your love and Your life and all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I honor and trust You as my Lord and as my Savior and I surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to You. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to fill me afresh with Your light and with Your life that I might pray well now as You lead me.
Heavenly Father, I thank You and praise You, worship You and adore You for Your incomprehensible LOVE towards me, Your amazing GRACE towards me, Your bountiful MERCY towards me. Help me now dwell in Your love – the love of my Father in Heaven.
I am a dearly loved child of God!
I have a Father in Heaven who loves me very, very much.
I receive Your Love in this moment with these words to help me.
Your Love is better than life.
Your Grace is sufficient for me.
Your unmerited favor towards me is so undeserved but oh so needed. Thank You!
I confess Father that I am so very prone to self-rule (doing my own thing – being in charge doing my life) and prone to self-righteousness (thinking and acting like my performance in life deserves or has earned a good life). What I now realize is that these are my attempts to replace You, to leave You, to control You. It breaks my heart to think I have treated You this way. I repent of all my attempts at self-rule. I also repent of my motivation for the wrong things I do. I also repent of my attempts at self-righteousness and self-centered motivations I sometimes have for the good things I do. (Spend a couple moments just processing with the Father the What? and the Why? of your self-rule and self-righteousness.)
Jesus, the only place I can truly work through the realities of my life and heart is a place of “grace”. Your heart is that place. I receive Your complete and total forgiveness for all my “self” issues. I rest once again in Your heart - the place of unimaginable love and grace and I surrender to Your transformational leading in my life. I love You and thank You so very much for coming after me, giving your life for me and loving me so very well this day.
Amen
