Returning
Many have walked away from what they knew and needed to do to be successful. We chased quick wealth and easy money. We acted as though we could take all the benefit and are not give any credit to God for the good things we had received - and then promptly wasted. Look around you and look at the hard time people are having - they had no plan to address anything except their idea of perfection and live in greed. The story of the Prodigal Son has a lesson for us about this very issue. A lesson of returning to find what we need and getting what we really wanted all along.
In the story of the Prodigal son, the youngest asks for his inheritance while his father is still living, and goes off to a distant country where he "squandered his wealth in wild living." and eventually has to take work feeding pigs, which is a rock bottom for him as it causes embarrassment and makes him dirty. There he comes to his senses and decides to return home and throw himself on his father's mercy. Knowing that even being his father’s servant is still far better than feeding pigs. When he returns home, his father greets him with open arms and hardly gives him a chance to express his repentance. He kills a fatted calf to celebrate his return.
In the story, we see that the younger son had at least three things wrong in his mind. First, he disrespected his father by basically wishing him to die in asking for his inheritance. Yet that is not the focus of this week. The next two errors compound his insult by injury.
Those errors are taking the full benefit and not honoring God with the Tithe as expected. God has continued these expectations today because they are part of his over all economic process. They are processes to fight against greed and abuse by individuals while ensuring continuing prosperity for the person and whole society. The idea was and is that our behavior is a reflection of what we believe, feel, and want. The behaviors that reveal self-centeredness also reveal that if we strike tough times as the Prodigal did we are on our own. We are there because we are the ones who walked away from the promises and processes of God.
Yet, though we walk away and get in a tight spot God is not calloused to us. He will greet us and throw a party - we just have to return.
God does not care why you return - just that you return. Once you have, you will begin to find the grace and mercy that transforms. Your heart and motive transform with the new interaction, but it cannot be so until you return. Presence and process transform rather than truth.
This week will you return and see your worries and troubles disappear in the rearview mirror? My prayer is that you will return so you can find God giving what you do not deserve and redeeming you from what you do.
In the story of the Prodigal son, the youngest asks for his inheritance while his father is still living, and goes off to a distant country where he "squandered his wealth in wild living." and eventually has to take work feeding pigs, which is a rock bottom for him as it causes embarrassment and makes him dirty. There he comes to his senses and decides to return home and throw himself on his father's mercy. Knowing that even being his father’s servant is still far better than feeding pigs. When he returns home, his father greets him with open arms and hardly gives him a chance to express his repentance. He kills a fatted calf to celebrate his return.
In the story, we see that the younger son had at least three things wrong in his mind. First, he disrespected his father by basically wishing him to die in asking for his inheritance. Yet that is not the focus of this week. The next two errors compound his insult by injury.
Those errors are taking the full benefit and not honoring God with the Tithe as expected. God has continued these expectations today because they are part of his over all economic process. They are processes to fight against greed and abuse by individuals while ensuring continuing prosperity for the person and whole society. The idea was and is that our behavior is a reflection of what we believe, feel, and want. The behaviors that reveal self-centeredness also reveal that if we strike tough times as the Prodigal did we are on our own. We are there because we are the ones who walked away from the promises and processes of God.
Yet, though we walk away and get in a tight spot God is not calloused to us. He will greet us and throw a party - we just have to return.
God does not care why you return - just that you return. Once you have, you will begin to find the grace and mercy that transforms. Your heart and motive transform with the new interaction, but it cannot be so until you return. Presence and process transform rather than truth.
This week will you return and see your worries and troubles disappear in the rearview mirror? My prayer is that you will return so you can find God giving what you do not deserve and redeeming you from what you do.
posted by Covenant of the Cross at
10:23 AM
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