The Journey of the ProdigalSample

Entitlement

Luke 15:11-12 - “Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.’”

This young man sounds so much like many of the addicts I have worked with having a severe case of “Me and mine”. This is very common when someone has an addiction. Their sense of  entitlement is huge. Their world is not about serving God or others. Their world becomes about them and getting more of whatever they want--in this case its wild living. In the King James Version, it says he spent his inheritance on drinking and prostitution. This young man wanted to do what he wanted to do and nobody was going to tell him differently.

Addicts of all kinds, whether addicted to exercise, sex, money, hoarding, food, or anything else, live in what I like to call a “me” reality. They are all about them. Their self-absorption allows them to avoid simple principles or commandments like, “Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” Exodus 10:12 (NIV).

The selfishness of addicts drives them to avoid all normal processes and relationships to get what they want. They want what they want and they want it now. They avoid principles like, “work for what you want.” They would rather beg, borrow, steal, or manipulate people who care about them to get what they want. 

As we get free from addiction, our poor choices, avoidance of basic principles, and manipulation of others who love us all stop. We move into taking responsibility for our present and past. If you are past with an active addiction was all about you, you’re not alone. Billions of us can relate to a period of time when we lived in a total “me” reality.

This prodigal son felt entitled to what his father had worked his whole life to acquire. The son relegated, to his own selfish desires, the fruit of decades of his father’s hard work. The father became an object to the son, not a person or soul. To the son, his father was a means to an end, a thing to manipulate rather than a human being who loved him as a son. 

Notice the way the addict, or the person planning to sin, uses others. This desire to act out or sin causes that person not to see people as souls but as objects with little value other than what they can do for them. In this case the son didn’t see his Father as a godly man who worked hard and loved his wife and sons. Rather his Father was an object to get the funds to do what he really wanted to do. The son was not concerned about how this would impact his parents, brother, and friends. You can tell this by the way someone treats others. If he sees others as souls having a context, are connected to others, and has high value for them, then he doesn’t want to hurt others or himself. The prodigal was bent to go sin or further his addiction and saw people as expendable with no context or awareness of how their behavior could impact others. The beginning of the prodigal process starts in the heart.