“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.”
What an amazing story. No doubt we have all heard or read the story of “the prodigal son” countless times. However, what is quite possibly most amazing about this story is not the prodigal son, but rather the prodigal Father. The word prodigal means “reckless, extravagant spending.” In this story, the father should’ve never acted the way he did. It would have been unheard of for an elder man to run; completely humiliating. Much less, it would have been unheard of and ridiculous to think that the reason this father ran was to embrace his wicked and disgraceful son. It would have been unthinkable for this father to then take his wayward son and exhaust a crazy amount of resources on his return.
But, that is what our Prodigal Father does. He is extravagant in how He humbles himself, making himself nothing so that he could run to us, wrap His arms around us and rescue us. It is unthinkable to imagine that our Father would accept us into His family and call us Sons & Daugthers. It is absurd to think that he would exhaust Himself and pay the greatest price to make us His own. Yet that is what He does. He is a prodigal in his giving towards us. He is our Prodigal Father.
My prayer this week: that we would be reminded of our Prodigal Father and the price paid for us (1 Cor. 6:19-20), and that we would be compelled to live reckless and extravagant lives for the sake of the gospel.
I love you guys. Press on!
