My dad and I talk on the phone at least once a week. We both are on the go a lot with different things going on in our lives. Sometimes, when it has been several days since we’ve talked, I will be talking with my mom on the phone (we talk just about every day), and I’ll hear dad scream from the couch, “Thanks for calling!” More than likely you can hear me yell, “Phone works both ways!” This has been our inside joke since I moved to college in 2007.
I want to talk to my dad. He wants to talk to me, but we both want the other to call. It’s just easier to have someone meet us where we’re at. Ben would always meet me at my classes and walk me to my car. He had his own classes and his own car to get to, but he would take the role of a servant to meet me where I was in order to get me to safety.
We know that Jesus took the role of a servant. Mark 10:45 tells us that he “did not come to be served, but to serve.” If this is true, we can assume that He is going to meet us where we are. He’s not going to wonder why we haven’t called Him. He’s going to call us and meet us where we are.
We have all read the story in Luke 15. Some call it the “Story of the Prodigal Son.” Some call it “The Story of the Lost Son.” The story talks about an anxious son begging his father to give him what’s due to him, in regards to inheritance. That son took all of his money and spontaneously spent it on all sorts of wild living. I’m not just talking a couple hundred bucks on slots and booze. This man spent every last dollar he had on temporary pleasure. All of a sudden, the whole city got in a bind where food was in short supply. The whole community was starving, including this son. He found purpose working to feed the pigs. The job didn’t pay any money, but it gave him something to do until his time came to die. He was physically starving. At one point, he looked down at the food he was feeding the pigs and debated on eating that to try and supply nourishment. After some time had passed, the son started thinking clearly. He became present in the things that were and the things that could be. His need became greater than his pride, and the resolution became greater than the consequence. He decided to go lay out his confession to his father. This part of the story is always the cliff hanger. (I’m sure the song probably felt the same way.) How would the father react once he hears his son’s confession? Verse 20 says that even while the son was a good way off, his father saw him and was filled with tender love for his son. After hearing the son’s confession, the father didn’t say a word to him about even one detail of his wild living. He was too busy planning for the celebratory party that was to come in honor of the son’s return.
There’s so many practical things to talk about with this one small story in the Bible. First, we are guilty of allowing our desire for immediate status and temporary pleasure to get in the way of our spiritual needs. We are also guilty of allowing our physical needs to get in the way of our spiritual needs. Philippians 4:19 says that God will supply all our needs. We don’t have to go looking for them-God will provide them.
Secondly, notice what benefits hitting the very bottom has on your mind. When you hit the bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up. When the son hit the bottom, the Bible said he was able to think clearly. It was in this clear mindset that he was able to be present. In the present, he was hungry for nourishment that was going to satisfy for longer than just a temporary season. In the past, he had that nourishment from a father who loved him unconditionally, but it wasn’t until he hit the bottom that he was truly grateful for what he had. His future was determined by whatever was considered his greatest worth. Was it food? Reputation? Shelter? Father’s forgiveness? Money? Acceptance?
Thirdly, once the son confessed to the father that it was “his fault,” did you notice what the father said about it? Nothing. He didn’t ask about the details of every bar he hit up, names of every prostitute he hooked up with, or how much he actually lost in gambling disasters. He was focused on the championship, not the battle.
As humans we get so lost in letting our battles become our identity that we ignore the fact that a victor hasn’t been declared yet. Right now in your circumstance, are you approaching the bottom? Are your plans to put up a mailbox there because you think that’s your last chapter? I’m begging you to take a moment to be present. Notice that what has been in your past doesn’t have to continue to be. Notice that your future is only determined by your greatest fear. And, finally, notice that in this present moment, separated from your past and the future, you are okay. There is joy in the process. There is power in our weaknesses. We’re not defined by what has happened to us; we’re defined by how we handle what happens.
I’ve watched so many friends deal with the numbing lifestyle of disappointment because it’s easier for them to go through the motions of despair than try something new that could lead to freedom. They let their pride get in the way of future relationships and an anxiety free life. When you apologize for your squandering living to the Father, He’s going to accept you right where you are. You leave one life of sin to immediately enter the life of freedom. You don’t see the father telling the son to go back to every single bar, strip club, and sinner he talked to during that season. No! The father met him where he was and took him in immediately. All the son needed to do was start walking in the direction toward the father.
Our Father won’t let you walk alone either. He’s gonna run after you, just like the father in this story. So if you’re looking for an excuse to stay away from your Creator, don’t use the excuse “I’ve done too much bad” or “I’m too broken to be fixed.” I’m calling your bluff on that. It’s hard for our human minds to wrap around this concept since we’re so stuck on the “I’ll wash your hand if you wash mine,” way. But, Jesus says, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). He wants to give your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual life rest. All He asks is that you “Come.”
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