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Doing Time

'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’
Luke 15:31

The prodigal son broke his dad’s heart by leaving home, squandering his inheritance and living with pigs. Later, when he came back asking to live in the barn and work as a farmhand, he found that his father had left the porch light on and kept him a place at the table. In fact, he was so glad to see him that he threw a party! But big brother wasn’t about to celebrate little brother’s return. Listen to him: ‘‘I have served and obeyed your commands. But you never gave me a feast. Your other son, who wasted ‘money on prostitutes’, comes home, and you kill the fat calf’’ (Luke15:29-30). It’s the kind of thing you hear in church from those who lift themselves up by putting other people down. Both sons did time in prison. One in the prison of rebellion, the other in the prison of resentment. One came home to a welcome; the other stayed home and wallowed in self-pity. When you’re jealous you miss the party! Bitterness incarcerates you along with all those other ‘victims’ of betrayal, abuse, the system, who’ve chained themselves to the walls of their prison. Put away your hurt before it turns to hate. You’re God’s child and nothing can ever change that! Go to the feast. There’s a seat reserved for you. Listen: your Father is saying, ‘Child, you are always with Me and all I have is yours.’ So, don’t let your lousy attitude rob you of what God has in store for you today!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, Forgive me for any resentment I have that robs me of being part of the celebration of others who have “come home”, who have succeeded, who were lost but are now found! In Jesus’ Name, Amen