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In this morning’s weekly brothers breakfast fellowship, someone brought up the parable of the so-called “Prodigal Son” and we had real good fellowship around some of the meaning of this parable. I had a few realizations and things I’d not seen well before regarding this story, and I thought it would be good to jot these down and share with y-all. The conversation had basically started around how great a salvation we have been given in Christ, that His all-efficacious blood is constantly available to us, and how there is no condemnation whatsoever for us in Christ --> and this is what the prodigal father demonstrated. Several discussed what this means to us practically, that is: reject all condemnation, but say “yes” to the conviction and leading of the Spirit (which always leads us back to our Father). Accordingly, the definition of “prodigal” was brought up . . . this word has a definition of “wastefully extravagant” or “extreme.” Well each of the three characters in this story were actually prodigal: One son wasted his being and inheritance to an extreme; the father had extravagant love; the other son was extremely legal. The father lavished his love on the returning son, and in no way condemned him. In fact, to me, this is the biggest part of this story – that the father was over-the-top with his love and longing for his son, and to celebrate his return without a hint of penalty mentioned towards his son. Just try to grasp the depths of the love shown here, even though this son had dissipated his being in debauchery and squandered all his inheritance! My my my, such “wastefully extravagant” and incomprehensible love!!! But something else regarding this son came out too, which I hadn’t really seen well before. He was humble and crawled back to his father. He was guilty of so much, and he knew it. But he was destitute and hungry, and selfishly wanted to be back in his father’s influence so that he didn’t starve. But with all this he had one redeeming attribute – he was humble with his father. Of course, the father was just so overjoyed to have his son back that none of what he had done mattered . . . the father loved his son unconditionally regardless. And then there was the other son. He was the one who had been extremely faithful, stayed with the father and had behaved himself – he did what he thought was expected of him all those years. But he was furious that his brother, who had misbehaved in such an extreme way, would receive such extreme love from their father. In much self-centered pride he boastfully exclaimed, “Have I not been faithful all these years and did . . .!?” But the father wasn’t about to let that spoil the enjoyment of his other son returning and threw an extravagant feast for him. The Lord hates pride, but gives ear to the humble (regardless if the humble one has been living with swine). In this story there was one humble son and one full of pride. God resists the proud. May we always be humble before Him, realizing we are “but dust” and could never earn the price His love paid to redeem us. What a story of extremes, but the father’s extreme love wins the day!!! (One other thing I saw during the fellowship was this story is also an example of Israel and the gentile nations. Israel could say, “Lord have we not been faithful to You and done this and that to please You?” Meanwhile the gentiles were out there doing their pagan thing. But God loves us all, whether Jew or gentile. In Christ’s reconciling work, the two are made one --> one new man.)