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"And he arose, and came to his father.
But when
he was yet a great way off, his father saw him,
and had
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck,
and
kissed him.
And the
son said unto him, Father,
I have
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight,
and am
no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the
father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe, and put it
on him;
and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on
his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill
it;
and let
us eat, and be merry:
For this
my son was dead and is alive again;
he was
lost, and is found.
And they began to be merry."
Luke 15:20-24
God, Our Father
In Luke 15, Jesus
relates to the people one of the most
poignant stories in all
literature:
that of the prodigal
son.
Nearly everyone can
relate to one of the characters,
the prodigal son, the
elder brother, or the father.
Each of the characters
teaches important lessons
for Christians to learn.
In the above Scripture,
we learn some things about
the father that
Christian fathers need to imitate
as they are raising
their children in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord.
He was patient
. . .
Although the son had
been gone a long time
(long enough for a
famine to ravage the land),
the father was still
looking out for him.
He "saw him a great way
off."
His eyes never tired of
looking for his wayward son.
Fathers, how patient are
you with your children when they
falter on life's
pathway?
He was loving . . .
When he saw his son
coming, he ran to him!
He could not wait for
his son to come to him.
He immediately hugged
and kissed his son.
And he did not even ask
for an explanation
of where he had been
or what he had been
doing.
He did not give him a
lecture on
"you should have known
better," or
"I hope you learned a lesson."
Fathers, how loving are
you toward your children
when they make mistakes?
He was forgiving . . .
We know that the father
was forgiving
because his actions demonstrated it.
So anxious was he to
forgive his son
that he did not let him finish his plea.
(In verses 18,19 the son
plans to ask his father to make
him a servant. But the
father cuts him off before he
gets that far, verses
21,22).
The father restored his
wayward son to his original place
and treated him with the
highest honor.
Fathers, how forgiving
are you of your children
when they do wrong?
His priorities were in
the right place . . .
The most important thing
was not that his son had sinned,
not that he had taken
advantage of his father,
not that he had caused
his father untold grief;
the most important thing
was that his son was alive
and had come home!
Fathers, delight in your
children!
"Lord Dictated Them"
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