Prayer Call: You Can Always Come Home

This is a day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Today's scripture focus:
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.” – Luke 15:17-20

This is one of the most known and talked about parables in the Bible. It gives us the blockbuster truth: You can always come home. Let that encourage us this week, that sometimes our spirit feels like we have wandered off; but no matter how far we’ve gone or how bad we’ve messed up, or how long we’ve stayed away or strayed away, we can always come home. In Luke 15 we find three parables – the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and finally the lost son. Just like in the parable of the prodigal son, in the movie Coming to America – there’s another son that wonders off.

Prince Akeem leaves the riches of his father’s palace in Zamunda and goes to the streets of New York. He gives up his comfort, all the royalty, and the riches for a common life but then there’s a powerful truth: Even though he left the royal palace, he never left his royalty. Even while scrubbing floors at McDowell’s the crown was still his. Eventually we see, that his father the king, comes and finds him and brings him home.

Here in Luke 15, we see another royal child – the prodigal son – who leaves his father house with his pockets full of money and a bright future ahead, but then he wastes everything on reckless living. Which leads to him finding himself in a pig pen. He’s broke. He’s hungry. He’s ashamed but then he comes to himself. He realizes that he can still go home. He realizes that his father still loves him and there’s still room for him at his father’s table.

The parable shows us that there is still room for us too. Sometimes we feel in our wandering off that we’ve done things or allowed things to happen that keep us from going back home. But even in those moments, the prodigal son reminds us that we can always come home. Why? Because the distance doesn’t define you. Some of us know what the prodigal son was feeling especially when the Bible says he went off to distant country. This may not be miles for some of us, I argue that it’s mindsets. Maybe we’ve grown or fallen away from where God wants us to be because of guilt, shame, or disappointments. Some of us our physically showing up to church sometimes but our hearts are still far off in a distant country. Far from home. For from peace. Far from purpose.

But the blessing is in verse 20, “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him…”. Distance did not disqualify him. No matter how far he went or the mess he found himself in, it did not cancel his relationship with his father. His location didn’t change his identity. Like in Coming to America, the people in Queens, NY may not have known who Akeem was and with all the miles between him and his home, his father didn’t forget who he was. The same goes for us, even in our mess, heaven still knows who we are. We’re not the pig pens we find ourselves in. We’re not the mistakes. We are still our Father’s children.

Not only does the distance not define us, but we must come to ourselves once we realize that the distance is not who we are. The turning point in the parable is when “he came to himself”. It doesn’t say that he found a better situation – he found a better perspective. Some of keep asking God to change our situation but God is saying I need to change your mindset first. The prodigal son is surrounded by pigs who didn’t know his story, reminding us that our environment doesn’t get the final word on what our identity is.

While studying and reflecting on this parable, I believe that God will reveal our “come to ourselves” moments. Those moments when we wake up and realize that we were made for more than what we’re seeing now. We were made for the palace not the pig pen. We were made to sit at tables not to eat scraps from the troughs. We were made to live forgiven not stuck in shame. We were made to accept the love of Christ – that no matter how far we have fallen, no matter how far away we are – He still loves us. Often times we find ourselves saying, “Perhaps one I’ll change.” The truth – nothing can change if we never come to ourselves. When we find ourselves in pig pens, we have to give sick of being there, in order for us to return to the Father.

I challenge us to take some practical steps to come to ourselves in any area where we’ve started to settle for less. Start the job application or school application. Seek the counseling session you’ve been putting off. Let someone know that you’re struggling and you could use a friend. Surround yourself with those who are going to remind you that the Father is waiting to restore you. The father in this parable wasn’t waiting to punish his son, he was waiting to restore him. He didn’t wait for him to crawl back in shame, he ran to him when he saw him coming. He embraced him. If you keep reading you will see that he puts a robe on him, and sandals, and prepares a feast. This shows us that you don’t just get forgiven when you come back to God, you get restored. The robe tells us that we’re covered by God – by His grace and His mercy. The ring is your authority given by Him. The sandals are a sign of importance – that you mean more to Him than what you thought you were worthy of.

God doesn’t want us to sneak in the back door. He wants us to celebrate at His front door and accept Him as our Savior. As we go through this week, let us stop punishing ourselves for what God has already forgiven. Start thinking about how you will walk in God’s restorative power. Celebrate the coming home moments in your life. Reflect on how far God has brought you. Remember, no matter how far we’ve fallen or drifted off, God is waiting with open arms because you can always come home.