Day 2…
Lost: Parable of the Father’s Heart
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.
God’s heart. We spend so much time discussing it, dissecting it, trying to fit it into a neat marketable and attractive package. For the most part we miss how simple it is: God, our Father, wants all of His children to return to Him. And even more so, He will stop at nothing, even the sacrifice of His own Son in pursuit of them. Luke 15 paints this picture for us.
The sheep, the coin, the prodigal son. All lost, all found, all a cause for celebration (ends with a party!). But until this weekend I always missed the other lost item in Luke 15… the son who stayed. He didn’t wander off, he hadn’t run away, but he no longer held to the heart of his father. He had become lost at home. Knowing the love his father had for his two sons, he should have gone after his brother, to return him safely to his father to be reconciled.
The church has become the brother who stayed. Everywhere I look I see people so caught up in working for the Father, that they have lost sight of His heart. As a whole, we spend more time chasing God’s blessings and prosperity, that we think that our physical gain and comfort is the whole reason for the Father’s love. And when we don’t get what we want, we see a lack of the Father’s love… just like the son who stayed.
Have you lost sight of the Father’s heart? Has your own life and personal comfort become more precious to you than the souls of the lost around the world? I don’t want to be the son who stayed, I don’t want to lose my Father’s heart for my brother. I want to be like the shepherd.
Resonant Love 