A close friend of mine told me recently that I need to own what is already mine. I was directed to the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. The younger son comes home and is welcomed greatly into the house of the Father, and the Father set up a feast in his house. But the feast wasn’t just for the younger son. It was for his servants, his family, and for Himself. It was even for the oldest son, who turns his nose to the celebration, as we can see in Luke 11:25-30:
“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’”
The older son reacts with anger, thinking that he has earned his right for a party.
The older son wanted to earn the right to become what he already was; a son.
John Piper has said in an interview about Sanctification and Justification: “The evidence that you stand holy, or to be like God, is that you are by faith becoming holy… The power by which you daily overcome the imperfections in your life is the confidence that you are already perfect… we spend a whole lifetime becoming what we already are”.
We have earned the right of sonship, and this is not a gender issue. Sonship simply means “that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16b-17).
We can see clear as day that the Father wants to give blessings to all people, and He chooses to dish out blessings as He pleases. The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard in Matthew 20 shows people tend to demand what they think is owed them for the work they do when in reality He doesn’t owe us anything.
But here’s the amazing thing:
He wishes desperately to give us all that He has because that is just the kind of God He is.
Let’s turn our attention back to Luke 11 in verses 31 and 32 to see the Father’s response.
“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
The Father doesn’t see our works as something that qualifies us for His blessing. He sees Himself as the only measure by which He says at the end of the day: “Come to me and eat, drink, and be merry”. Stop trying to earn your salvation, and live it.
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