So the story is
familiar to most of us, a father and his two sons, the youngest son came to his
father and asked for his share of the family’s money. The father, rather than
try to control, punish or manipulate his son out of the idea, decides to let
the son have his way, and so the drama begins.
With all the money he
has, the son takes off to a far way land and treats himself with the best money
can buy, and with that, he wastes all his wealth in
wild living, and to make things worse, a famine hits the land and the whole
country goes broke.
In the midst of that recession and with no
money left, the only thing left for him was to find a job at a local farm
feeding pigs and with a salary so low that he couldn’t even afford to eat what
the pigs were eating.
As he hit the bottom, he remembered the
life he had at his father’s house, and realized that even his father’s servant
had a better life than he now has. One last desperate idea comes to mind, go
back to his dad’s land and beg for his dad to give him at least a place to stay
and a job to pay for his living, after all, he realizes that the way he treated
his father was so dishonoring, that he wasn’t even worthy to be called a son
anymore, much more be treated like one. As sad and humiliating as it was to go
back with nothing and defeated, he takes off and heads back to his father’s
house.
Once he gets close to his fathers house,
his father sees him, and moved with compassion, he runs to his son, threw his
arms around him and kisses him. The son then turns to his father and says:
‘Father, I made a big mistake, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I
am no longer worthy to be called your son; but please, make me like one of your
hired servants.’
But the father turned to his workers and
shouts: ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger
and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a
feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was
lost and is found! Hurry, Let’s celebrate!!’
I’m not sure how long it took from the
moment this kid left his father’s house to the moment he returned, but during
this time way from his father’s presence, love and care, he went from a place
where he knew he had rights over everything his father owned to a place where
he was gonna have to work and perform to be treated as a servant. See, this kid
has now a new mindset, he thinks and sees the world differently. A son became a
performer, trying to work hard to earn something he once had for free. A son
goes from a place of abundance to a place of survival, just like that. And he
knew he deserved that. He came back to the father’s house indeed, but not as a
son, but as a servant, as a performer.
Here’s the thing, what this kid didn’t
expect to find was his father’s unconditional love towards him. That despite
everything he did, he was still a son, he was still family. His survival
mindset brought him back as a servant, a performer, but unconditional love made
him a son again.
Truth is, if we just look around, we’ll see
that all over the place sons and daughters are trying to find their way back
into the father’s house, performing and working their way into some sort of
affection, acceptance and love. They are everywhere, in our families,
workplaces, schools and yes, in our churches. To be honest, sometimes we are
the ones walking in those shoes and in need of that love.
So to finish it off, here are the big
questions; what would happen if we start to walk in unconditional love? What
if, just like the father in the story, we celebrate, champion and fully accept
people as they are and love them into a place of true relationship with the
Father God?
And two, What if we become fully aware of
the unconditional love that has been lavished on us everyday of our lives? What
if we open ourselves up to accept that there’s nothing we can do to separate us
from the love of God?
Today unconditional love is not only
calling us back home, but is also giving us permission to let go of all
striving and performance and live in the fullness of our greatest purpose,
which is intimacy, as sons and daughters, with our heavenly Father.
Unconditional love is always calling sons
and daughters back home, and today is a great day to walk in unconditional
love.
Daniel
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