Return to the Father! (He'll be running to you).

An application from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Luke 15:11-32

Some reflections on relationship dynamics:

• the younger son asked for what he shouldn’t have, causing grief to his father, basically wishing he was dead!

• the father gave him what he asked for.

• he left his home in a hurtful way.

• the father let him go.

• he lived a life of wasteful rebellion.

• the father stayed home and grieved the loss of his son.

• when he returned the father RAN to him and declared him alive from the dead!!

Questions to ask:

• Would the son have come to his senses and returned repentant if the father had gone after him, before he repented?

• The son said “I will get up and go to my father . . .“

• Was it made possible for the son to repent and return, precisely because the father never changed the boundaries?

• Would there have been a place to come home to if the father had gone to where the son was?

The father was powerless as a parent to impact or change his son's behavior while in that rebellious state. All the while his heart remained steadfast and unchanged toward his son. This was given evidence by his actions as soon as he saw the son coming home “from a long way off”, he ran!! to him and welcomed him home and gave him more than the son could have imagined or thought. (1 Cor 2:9)

but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

Think carefully before you attempt to change or adjust boundaries of a safe environment! It might make the return of someone who is lost more difficult or even impossible. It is more prudent to let what is holy stay holy, calling the wayward home. Keep your heart tender toward the person who is estranged. Pray and look for them to genuinely return and repent. When/if they do, run toward them and embrace them with God’s love and grace. (Galatians 6:1-2)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

See also 2 Cor 2:5-8🔸