The Distorted image

                of God Our Father. 

We all carry in our mind’s images of God our Father. Sadly, some of those images are distorted by our negative experiences of life. We think of God our Father has being bad, harsh and unforgiving.

There were two sons in the story of the prodigal son which Jesus told us. We could say the one son was a rebellious son and the other son was very rule minded, and very hard-working. I think it would fair to say we would all want the hard-working son.

The younger son as it happens in most families today wants to leave home with his share of the money. Sometimes the world outside family seems more attractive because young people are very unhappy at home.

It seems the younger son was unhappy at home. There are times when life in God’s house seems as if something is missing and the outside world seems more exciting. The only problem is sin is satisfying in a short-term but in the long-term it has dire consequences.

 The younger son wanted his freedom to do as he liked with his life. St Paul talked about freedom. He said, “We have freedom to serve God and not freedom to do our own thing” The younger son said to his Father, “Please give me my share of my money now as I want to leave home.”

 He couldn’t wait for his share of the inheritance until his father had died.  The younger son was disrespectful in his request to his Father. He said to his Father, “Give me my share of the money now.” This is a very offensive request.  It wouldn’t go down well in any family today. The person making this request would be seen as being greedy and extremely selfish.

The Father agrees to do it but he must have felt very hurt. The Father allows him to make an unwise decision. He knows exactly what is going to happen. We make some very unwise decisions which lead to consequences that are not good for us. But God our Father is still merciful to us even in our sin.

The son goes to a country far away and begins to live a reckless life. He was drinking, taking drugs and using prostitutes. His life spiraled out of control.  He had soon become penniless and had to find a job. He couldn’t find any support from his so-called friends.

He found a job feeding pigs which was very demoralizing for him. He had no money or food so he found himself wanting to eat the pig’s food. This was as low as life could get for him.

He was now in a helpless situation. He only had one answer to go back to his Father. It’s only in our helplessness we want to return to God. The younger son said to himself, “I will go back to my Father and say I am sorry and ask him to take me back as his servant and not as his son. I am unworthy to be his son.” The son hopes his Father has a generous and a forgiving heart.

There are many of us who feel very unworthy to come back to God our Father after failure. The son decides to go back home in his filthy clothing. Unknown to him the Father had been on the lookout for him since the day he had left. 

The son is still a distance away from home but the Father saw him coming. The Father hadn’t given up on his son. The Father did not think to himself, the son made an unwise decision to leave and let him now face the consequences.

Unfortunately, that is how often we think but the Father’s mercy is bigger than ours. The younger son is still a distance away when the Father saw coming home. The Father ran towards him! He takes the first steps. Always remember God Our Father is always taking steps towards us. Are we taking steps towards him?

The Father embraces him. The son said, “Father I have sinned”. The son is unable to complete his speech before the Father said to his servants, “Quick bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet and cook the best meat we have. For my son was lost and has been found. Let us celebrate”. The party began ……

The change of clothing symbolizes a new start with God Our Father. He has to change our filthy clothes when we come to him and put on us new clean clothes.

But the older son refused to join the party. He was angry and said to his Father, “I have worked hard all these years and you have never given me even a small lamb to celebrate with my friends. This son of your goes out and wastes all his money on prostitutes and you give a party.”

The Father said to the older son, “Everything I have is yours but now I must celebrate my son’s return.”

What God requires from us all is a forgiving heart. We all struggle to forgive. Whether we are inside or outside God’s house we all need his forgiveness. The younger son knew the Father’s love but the older son was struggling to know it.  The older brother did not understand that God’s Grace was for everyone. Grace is God’s Undeserved Favour.

We don’t know how the relationship between the two brothers worked out in the end…… (The story of the prodigal son is found in Luke 16 in the Bible).

Dear Father

Many times, I turned my back on you

But you forgave me

And received me back.

Because you are Love.

Please put a garment of Righteousness,

And Forgiveness,

Over me.

Please put a ring on my finger

And shoes on my feet.

   Your Grace is in abundance.

Help me to receive others with

The same love

You received me. Thank You

By harbajan (servant of Jesus) 11/10/26. www.godislove.me.uk