God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

Today I want to talk to you about the word servant as it relates to the prodical son. Let’s first look at the definition  of a servant:

a person who performs duties for others. Or a devoted and helpful follower or supporter.

Most likely, servanthood wasn’t a goal you had in mind as you were pondering life after graduation.  If you are anything like me, I wanted to be financially independent and self sufficient- not a servant that relied on who I served to give me room and board. Self sufficiency is a good quality in many respects, but not as it relates to our eternal destination.

In the Biblical story of the prodigal son- we find a person who wanted to be free of his father. He wanted to be self sufficient and independent. He was tired of living under his fathers rule and therefore asked for his share of his father’s inheritance and the father gave it to him.

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

 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said,

‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’  So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.(Luke 15:11-20)

This story actually describes the way the Lord will react to anyone who decides to do an about face in their life- turning away from a life of emptiness and wrong pursuits and towards the life of living for God.

“You will seek me and find me, if you seek me with your entire heart.”(Jer 29:13)

We all start out in life seeking, searching and planning the best life we can. We of course want a good income, a great spouse and things to enjoy like a nice house, car, vacations, clothes, toys – you name it. So we set out in life gaining education through college or hard work in order to secure jobs we feel will start this life we envisioned. The focus for many of us during this season of our lives, is our career. We may believe in God but our life is not dedicated to living for God. During this time we would be “believers” but not followers of the Lord.

Some people go through their lives as a believer- they never understand that there can be more depth in our walk of faith. But God left us a book- the Holy Bible- and within those sixty six books of the Bible, are instructions and teachings as to how to live life with God.  He also gave us the Holy Spirit to help us interpret those books. God can speak through the pages of the Bible to calm us, guide us, inform us and let us know that He is a real person with real power. Not only that, He would like to stay in constant contact with each of us in order to assist us in the little and big decisions of our lives. The Holy Bible is the vehicle that will get us from a life devastatingly off track, to a calm, content life full of blessings.

God loves us and He wants to help us, but He gave us free will to choose a relationship with Him or not. Many times it will take an all out “tornado” in life to cause us to open the Bible hoping to glean anything that could help us.  But when we do, He is like the father of the prodigal son- He will have His arms wide open to welcome us back into His fold of protected sheep.

The worst day of the prodigal son’s life became the turning point to his best life. He decided to return to his father’s house as a servant. God desires all of us to return to Him as well. This would start our life over- the term “born again” is used by many in this sense- choosing to let God run our lives by obeying His teachings and commandments.

Living for God is the protected, joy filled, peaceful life. It is a life based on bringing others into the Kingdom of God. It has profound value and meaning here on earth and in heaven.

Maybe in this season of fear and uncertainty, we can encourage each other to choose to be born of the Spirit- giving all our choices to God. This will put us back under His care and His provision.

Stay healthy, enjoy your family, and know that if you are a follower of God you will get through this pandemic strong, safe and secure in the arms of Jesus.

All my best,

Lisa