Prodigal Son Transformation With Kyle IdlemanSample

“Grace for Both Sons”

The older son was indignant after seeing his father’s actions. This older brother may have worked hard and faithfully tended the fields, but he was lost in his father’s house.

There was no awakening. There was no honesty. There was no action.

The truth is, he, too, was a prodigal son. He, too, had a heart that was far from the father. He too was lost, but he didn’t see it. Tim Keller puts it this way, “The bad son was lost in his badness, but the good son was lost in his goodness.”

You may never have been to a Distant Country. You may have an impressive religious resume. You may have followed all the rules. You may have read this entire book thinking of all the people you know in the Distant Country who really need to hear it. But I wonder if you are the one Jesus has been talking to all along.

Luckily, when the older brother was in the field, the father left the celebration and went out to him. He engaged the son directly.

What does this tell us about God? God longs for a relationship with His children. Whether your life resembles the older son or the younger.

Even after the younger son’s insulting choices and reckless living, the father embraced him with kisses and hugs. And after the older brother’s harsh words and disrespect, the father lovingly explained himself. The patriarch would never have had to explain himself in ancient times. Households were not democracies; they were dictatorships. Yet the father answered the older brother’s anger with gentle patience and grace.

We expect God to be an angry father who demands justice, but through Jesus, He gives us love and grace when we don’t deserve it. Ultimately, the story in Luke 15 isn’t about two sons who disobey. It is about a Father who loves His children unconditionally.

* When you have sinned, how do you envision God and what He thinks of you? How does His never-ending grace and love fuel the entire AHA process?