It’s easy to make the same mistake the Prodigal Son did. In fact, we do it all the time. The son ran away from home to chase wine, women, and song. When he recognized his huge mistake, he made the first wise decision he’d made in a long, long time.
“How many of my father’s hired men 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 men,’” (Luke 15:17-19).
After all he had done, he could only imagine himself as a hired hand. Somehow, he thought, he would need to make amends. Work off his mistake. Settle for a position lower than what he once had as a son.
He could not fathom what happened next. “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.
The father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate,’” (Luke 15:20-23).
The father’s response shocked the son. This was nothing close to what he had imagined.
Compassion for him. The one who broke his father’s heart. The one who didn’t care he had broken it. No cautious welcome, wondering why his son was walking down the road toward home.
No guarding his heart from another heartbreak. No demands for payback or proof that he had changed.
Just uncontrolled emotion, hugs, and tears.
A ring, a pair of sandals, a robe. Not just any robe, mind you. The best robe. The ring was a signet ring used in those days as an early form of credit card.
The father entrusted a new line of credit to his son, who had proven untrustworthy with money. Again, with no proof that the son had reformed his spendthrift ways.
Then he threw a party for a son who had torn his heart out and spent half his earnings. Incredible. The son knew he was unworthy. He didn’t deserve to be a son anymore. But the father saw him with different eyes.
God always does. No matter what we’ve done and no matter how far we’ve strayed, he views us far differently than we view ourselves. Always has. Always will. But we don’t get it.
One of our biggest problems in our relationship with God is that we don’t know who he really is. We don’t understand his heart. His unconditional love and affection towards us don’t compute.
We don’t know him. Not by a mile. That was the error of the fellow given one bag of gold to invest for his master (God). Instead of investing it like the other two guys did, he hid his money in the ground.
When the master returned, he asked the man why. He said, “I knew you were a hard man…So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground,” (Matthew 25:24-25).
We make so many mistakes because we don’t know who God really is. We think we do, but we’re not close.
That’s why Paul put this plea at the top of his prayer list whenever he called upon God for the Ephesians. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17).
That sounds like a good place for you and me to start to clear up any misconceptions about who God is. And what he’s like. And how he sees us.
And what he thinks about us. We’ll discover what God is like when we search his Word to see who it says he is and who we are in his sight.
Try this one on for size: “As a loincloth cling to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory — an honor to my name” (Jeremiah 13:11).
Is that what you believe is God’s opinion of you? Is that how you see yourself — God’s pride, glory, and honor?
Until you begin to pray Ephesians 1:17, you will continue to assume the worst about God’s love and intentions for you. Ask God to reveal to you who he is and what he’s really like. Then believe he’s telling you the truth… because he is!
O, that we might know God for who he really is.