We’ve been traveling along with the prodigal son as he takes his inheritance and leaves home for a foreign country. In this daily devotional, we will travel back home with him as he asks his father for forgiveness for his sins.
Nuggets
- We, like the prodigal son, have to return to God, and He will meet us.
- We, like the prodigal son, have to say the words that shows we repent.
- We, like the prodigal son, will be forgiven by God when we sincerely repent.
To read a devotion in the Parable of the Prodigal Son series, click the appropriate button below.
The prodigal son found out that he wasn’t better off on his own. He had spent his inheritance, and then a famine had devastated the land.
Jesus referred to him as “coming to his senses” in Luke 15: 17. When he did, the prodigal son started for home.
Let's Put It into Context
Previous nuggets are
- We, like the prodigal son, turn away from God.
- We, like the prodigal son, are far from God when we allow sin to rule our lives.
- We, like the prodigal son have to face the consequences of our choices.
- We, like the prodigal son, have to repent.
The Prodigal Son Comes Home
“So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him” (Lk. 15: 20 CSB)
We, like the prodigal son, have to return to God, and He will meet us.
We have to hand it to the prodigal son. He had hit rock bottom, but he figured out what he needed to do – and he did it.
The Repertorium Oratoris Sacri spoke to the need for us to have that self-evaluation. They wrote, “Forsaken by all the world, he returned to himself. The first condition of conversion is knowledge of one’s self, and the knowledge of the condition of our soul.”
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The prodigal son got on the journey home right away, and it paid off. He needn’t have worried about the reception he would receive from his father.
The father saw the son coming from a long way off. He had to have been looking out for the son, hoping he would come home.
God watches over us. He even watches us before we repent. Just as the father did not disown the prodigal son, neither does God turn His back on us when we are sinners.
Spurgeon cautioned us not to think that this meant we could remain in our sin after we asked for repentance. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
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When we repent, we have to commit to obeying God’s laws and commandments. We can’t hold on to sin and expect God to be good with that.
Yes, disciples continue to sin after conversion because we are still in our sinful bodies. But we are striving to be obedient.
But Spurgeon reminded us that we could go to the other extreme. We should not be like the Pharisees and feel we are overly righteous. We all sin, and we must all confess this sin.
Alexander made an interesting comment. He said that the father had been drawing the prodigal son home through his love.
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This could be what fueled Spurgeon’s discussion of what being a long way off meant. Our apprehension of the repentance process makes us to be a long way off. We know we need to repent but are still struggling with aspects of the decision.
God does draw us home through His love. “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3: 20 CSB).
The prodigal son remembered what it was like in his father’s house. That drew him back.
I heard in a sermon sometime or read somewhere that Jewish men usually did not show this emotion. “… He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him” (Lk. 15: 20 CSB). They especially didn’t run anywhere.
Jesus is saying, “Not so with the Heavenly Father.” I love what Alexander said. He wrote, “For every step the sinner takes towards God, God takes ten towards him.”
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God loves us so much! He is ready and willing to accept us back when we approach Him with true repentance and a changed heart. He can call us back from Satan’s clutches.
In order to not waste a minute more, the father ran to the prodigal son. Dunning also had a wonderful quote: “Love is quicker than youth, loftier than pride, mightier than Satan. The love of God is compassion.”
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The Prodigal Son Confesses to His Father
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son’” (Lk. 15: 21 CSB)
We, like the prodigal son, have to say the words that shows we repent.
We have to give the prodigal son props. He said he was going to go back as a hired servant. He got as far as “… I’m no longer worthy to be called your son” (Lk. 15: 21 CSB).
The father cut him off. He didn’t need to hear anything more. All he needed to hear was the “… Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Lk. 15: 21 CSB).
The prodigal son didn’t have to beg. He didn’t have to prove he had changed.
God takes us just as we are. I have always loved that hymn.
Song
Alan Jackson
God takes us at our word. Oh, yes. He knows our hearts, so he knows whether we are sincere or not.
Also known to God is the fact that our salvation is going to be a process. Salvation is deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with good and eternal life.
I remember when I accepted my ex’s proposal, he made the comment that he was surprised I said yes because I was so independent. I thought, “Accepting the proposal is easy. It is the learning to live together that was going to be hard and is where it is going to bump into the independence.”
God knows what struggles we will be facing in our redo for godliness. Thankfully, He is right there to help us.
The father wasn’t going to treat the prodigal son as one of his servants. No matter what transpired previously, he was his son.
That shows us that our hopes and dreams are met and exceeded by how God treats us.
The Prodigal Son Is Granted Forgiveness
But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate” (Lk. 15: 22-24 CSB)
We, like the prodigal son, will be forgiven by God when we sincerely repent.
We tend to remember that the father killed the fatted calf to celebrate the son’s return. We forget about the best robe, ring, and shoes.
Even if the prodigal son just came back for the eats, the father exceeded his expectations.
Calderwood pointed out something I really hadn’t thought of before. The father doesn’t address the prodigal son’s confession. He just goes about setting up the celebration.
Here is Calderwood’s explanation. He wrote, “He receives the confession, for it is true, it is necessary; nothing can excuse the deeds, nothing can change the character of that awful past; but he does not dwell upon the painful subject, he does not open up the wound afresh. As he cannot say a word in excuse, he will not speak at all. His silence is condemnation. Thus God deals with man, maintaining a silence which is merciful. He casts the sins behind His back.”
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The mention of the robe specifically struck me. We just talked about God being clothed in His attributes.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Alexander pointed out that slaves were not allowed to have shoes. This is another way that we know the father kept true to his word that the prodigal son would be treated as a son, not a servant.
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Why was the father so happy? He said it was “because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! …” (Lk. 15: 24 CSB).
The point was there was a celebration because a sinner had returned to God’s fold. He had gone from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Glossary
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Not only He celebrates but all who are with Him also join in. “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15: 10 ESV).
Well, not everyone, but that is for the next devotion.
Making the Connections
We can come up with all kinds of ideas why we can’t approach God. He is so far away. He is so judgmental. He is so stringent.
None of those – or the others we can come up with – are correct. God wants us to come to Him. He will forgive us when we sincerely ask.
There is only one sin that God has said that He cannot forgive, and that is grieving the Holy Spirit. I think that is unbelief. God cannot and will not forgive us if we do not believe His Son died to pay the penalty for our sins.
Any other time we come to God, He is running toward us. He loves us that much.
Father God. We are humbled by how much You love us. We admit we need You to be our Sovereign God. The only way You will do that is if we believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, and we do. Forgive us when we, like the prodigal son, strike out on our own and go miles away from You. Love us back to Your fold. Amen.
What do you think?
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