Wasting resources

"A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living."   Luke 15:13   NLT 

The title 'The Prodigal Son' is only used in Luke and by the KJV and NKJV, all of the others refer to him as the 'Lost Son' which is probably more appropriate. However, 'Prodigal' fits the way he acted. He carelessly and foolishly spent his money on wild living. He was reckless and wasteful. Perhaps today's crude word 'Waster' would fit his profile. Whatever, he was determined to do what he thought best in a selfish manner by, demanding his father give him his inheritance. His father obeyed but would have given him about 25% of this, leaving the other 75% for his brother who was older. The inheritance could be paid prior to death but with the premium shown here. When the younger had what he wanted, he left on his adventure.

It's so common for a young person to want to 'flee the nest', after all, there is a big wide world out there wanting to be discovered. However, it's not always wise and the young person can take a tumble as our young lad did here. When his money had run out because of his extravagant lifestyle, he was homeless and broke, and all he could do was try and find work. He broke all the rules by lowering his standards by working for a pagan pig farmer which would have made many Jews look aghast. He had fallen so far.

He eventually came to his senses and decided to go home to his father and repent. Off he went practicing what he would say on the way. As he neared his home, his father spotted him and ran and hugged him. Sometimes, as we read this scripture, we're tempted to believe that the father had been standing and looking for him all this time. This would have been impossible but, he would have been looking every time he went outside with a hope in his heart. That hope was fulfilled as his son repented. However, his father was so happy he didn't give him chance to say all of his practiced confession. The father was more interested in throwing a party to celebrate his coming home. This I believe is how God feels when each of us return to Him when we have walked away by backsliding or coming to Him for the first time. He is overwhelmed with joy and doesn't even give you the time to say everything, because He knows what you're going to say anyway. All He's interested in hearing is, 'I'm sorry Lord.' Then the joy begins.

Our conclusion and learning curve here is:

(1)  Watch the selfishness of want, want, me, me

(2)  You can't make it without your Father no matter how hard you try

(3)  The outside world will take you for a ride

(4)  Repent when you need to and confess the mistakes you have made

(5)  Realise that God knows best, you don't

Tomorrow we'll look at the older brother’s reactions 

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