Prodigal (adjective)
wastefully or recklessly extravagant
I don't know about you, but I've always been intrigued by the story of the prodigal son. Maybe it's because the word prodigal is fun to say, or because at some point every kid imagines running away, living large, and seeing what happens. After all, the American Dream is to live lavishly and maintain a reckless lifestyle full of parties, good alcohol, bad choices, and no consequences (think Gatsby). Tack on a white picket fence and 2.5 children, and it sounds really good.
That's the key, though. It only sounds good.
Maybe this is because I've lived in a fairly small space most of my life, but the thought of living in a large house makes me feel lonely. The thought of having rooms fully furnished but with no one living in them, simply because I can have such a large space to live in, feels wrong to me. I believe this is because we're made for community. We're made to share our resources and having that many rooms and letting them remain ready for guests with no one to fill them sounds horrible.
Yet, for most of the country, that's the goal. We tend to want the lavish life. We want to have the perceived freedom of living without consequences.
We want to have the perceived freedom of living without consequences.
There are three characters in the story of the Prodigal son: the prodigal, the older brother, and the dad. My home church has been going through this story, and Pastor Craig Smith has a lot of really interesting thoughts and hard questions for us to ask ourselves about these characters and where we fit in the story. Here's a link to how you can hear those sermons if you want to.
That desire to live without consequences drives many of our interactions with each other and with the world. It's one of the main reasons crime exists. It's one of the main reasons we end up hurting other humans. It's one of the main reasons we end up alone, just like the prodigal son in the story. He lived the life he thought he wanted and ended up worse off than the pigs he was feeding.
Here's the good news: just like the father in the story, God wants to have relationship with us over everything else.
We can rest in the grace provided by God's love for us. In the same way that the father in the story not only accepted his son back but ran out to meet him, God wants us to be where he is, despite whatever it is we've done in the past. Because in many ways, we are the prodigal. In many ways we're the older brother, jealous of the love the prodigal receives.
I love the way my pastor closed the sermon this last weekend, so I'll let his words close this post.
"God is far more interested in our relationship with him than our performance for him."
What are you seeking? Acceptance? Approval? or Relationship?
J. J. Hanna is a writer and reader who loves God and wants to help encourage others with what she knows and what she's learning. Answer her questions with a quick note and connect with her on social media. Want her to cover something specific next? She looks forward to hearing from you.