Second Chances: Prodigal Son
I’ve been sharing my own story as a prodigal, so it seems only fitting to look at the second chance the prodigal son received.
The Prodigal Son leaves home
The story of the prodigal son is taken from one of the parables of Jesus found in the book of Luke.
A father gives his two sons their inheritance before he dies. The younger son leaves home, goes to a foreign country and squanders his fortune. He was in need and hired himself out, but he went hungry.
He realized his father treated his servants better and decided to go home. His father saw him from afar, ran to him and embraced him when he arrived. The son asked for forgiveness and his father threw a feast in his honor.
The older brother is jealous and angry at the way his younger brother is treated. The father reminds him that he’s always been with him but his brother was “dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
The younger son was granted a second chance to make amends with his family, turn his life around and prove himself and the lessons he’d learned along his journey.
So what can we learn from this story?
- Often we squander what is so readily available
Be Ready and willing to open your Prodigal home with open arms and a loving heart
- We often have to live through the hard times to appreciate what’s before us
- We have plenty of friends when we have money and can give them what they desire
- We are willing to do anything necessary to survive when we are destitute
- Not everyone treats others the same
- A spiritual awakening will lead to the beginning of salvation
- Forgiveness is readily available if we ask
- God throws a feast when we come into the fold
- Others do not forget our actions and how we have hurt them
- Sometimes others becomes jealous at the grace extended to us
- Wisdom comes from experience and lessons learned
- The father is looking for our return. He wants us to return.
How have you prayed for a prodigal in your life?
For others in the Second Chances series:
Old Testament: Jonah, Job, Samson, Rahab, David and Bathsheba, Moses, Joseph, and Jacob
New Testament: Zacchaeus, Woman Caught in Adultery