God Wants You to Enjoy His Blessings!

My son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours. Luke 15:30 (VOICE)

Over the past few days, we’ve been talking about Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. Today I’d like to focus on another aspect of that story that teaches us an important lesson–the oldest son.

When the prodigal son returned and the father threw him a party, the oldest son wasn’t too happy. He said, “Listen, all these years I’ve worked hard for you. I’ve never disobeyed one of your orders. But how many times have you even given me a little goat to roast for a party with my friends? Not once! This is not fair!” (VOICE).

At first the oldest son’s anger seems justified, but listen to the father’s response. He said, “All I have is yours,” or in other words, “You could kill a fatted calf any night you wanted! It was your fatted calf too!”

The elder son judged the younger son, but was he really as perfect as he thought? He seemed to be serving his father out of obligation, and he didn’t understand his father either. He thought his father wanted him to work tirelessly day after day, and the father was saying, “You could have been enjoying my blessings all along!”

Here’s the lesson in this story—don't be like the oldest or the youngest son. Be like the father!

Let’s lose the religious attitude that we should be suffering for Jesus. It only makes us resentful of the prodigal sons in our world. Our Father God wants us to enjoy a relationship with Him and enjoy His blessings, not serve Him out of obligation or ritual. Let’s embrace His grace and then extend that same help, forgiveness and acceptance to others!