“And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” – Luke 15:11-32
I’ve been thinking about the Prodigal Son recently. His story seemed to be the best framing device of what I want to talk about. As I thought about him, I thought about him perhaps in a way that is less common. I thought about him in context to myself, which I don’t know that many of us do because it feels extreme, for some of us, I imagine. We may not have taken our inheritance, squandered it all, abandoned our family, or eaten with pigs. Eventually, the Prodigal Son hit rock bottom, which, when we think about it, is a more resonant and familiar place than we’d like to admit. It might look different for everyone, but we might not be as different from him than we think or so far from being prodigal ourselves.
Coming Back to God
Returning to what that has to do with me, I was thinking about the distance between God and myself lately that I have created. I have been prioritizing other gods lately – gods of false comforts and inevitably, those gods did not satisfy. It’s not like I didn’t know they wouldn’t actually satisfy, but like the Prodigal Son, the farther you get from home, the harder it is to make the journey back. I kept thinking more about the distance itself, about how I knew better than to have created the distance, and truthfully, knowing we need to do something does not in itself always spring us into action. I shouldn’t have even been in this position and that was my focus more than coming back to God was.
Measuring Sin
I also bring up the Prodigal Son because oftentimes, we measure our sin. Whether it’s subconscious or conscious, we think to ourselves, “well, I’m not as bad as her or him, or I have not sinned in the way they have, so it’s not as bad.” A lie doesn’t feel as insidious as murder. Not having devotion or prayer doesn’t feel as dangerous as what we consider a “bigger” sin, but the reality is, it is all sin. There are no degrees of sin because by definition, it is anything that separates us from God. This is not Dante’s Inferno; there are no sections for sin. There are two issues with measuring sin, the first being what I have already raised. We are essentially measuring and negotiating sin when God says to abhor it (Romans 12:9). It doesn’t say to abhor adultery more than lying or abhor murder more than fornication. It says sin, which encompasses anything that separates us from the Father. The wages of all sin is death, not some (Romans 6:23). The second and graver issue with measuring our sin against others in and outside of the body of Christ is that we were never meant to be each other’s standards for living. We have all fallen short of the glory of God and born into iniquity (Romans 3:23; Psalm 51:5). This is precisely why we needed Christ to come because He is perfect and without blemish (1 Peter 1:19-21). It is His life we should be measuring ourselves against, not one another’s, and when we are truly able to frame our sin(s) against Christ, it is only then that we have the proper perspective, that we are able to truly see how far we’ve gotten off the beaten path. Hopefully, that realization does not take us further away from Him; my point is merely that if we’re going to measure ourselves, it should be against the correct standard: Christ.
I think I know why it’s easier, though, to specifically to look at the Prodigal Son, and feel as though we’re not as bad as him or we’re far off from where he originally is before finding his way home. The parable begins with his rebellion; we don’t see what led up to it and I don’t believe we need to. But my point is, distance between God is not something that just happens. He doesn’t pull away from us day by day. In fact, He doesn’t pull away from us at all. We choose that. It starts with not having devotion one morning, not praying another, missing just one Sunday service until you grow accustomed to not talking to God, you no longer feel the need to commune with Him at all. Your comforts are your friends and Netflix until you realize one day, you don’t know when’s the last time you prayed and you spend more time on social media than in your Word.
I know because I got away from God. I was running late one morning and “didn’t have time” for devotion and that day snowballed into weeks. I would see Christian content and just scroll by it quickly so I didn’t have to remind myself that I was not seeking the Lord. Every day I was communing with God, I was sinning against Him. I was leaning upon my own understanding because I certainly was not seeking His. By the Grace of God, I have found my way back and there is definitely room for improvement for me, more to give to Him, but I am not where I was and I am grateful for His mercy in welcoming me back to Him.
Precursors to Sin
My mother used to say something that is rooted in scripture. If you lie, you’ll steal. If you steal, you’ll cheat. If you cheat, you’ll kill. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ gives us the Beatitudes, He reminds us that we are the salt of the earth, but He also reframes the Ten Commandments.
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” – Matthew 5:27-28
The Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites so that they knew the law of God and Christ came to fulfill the law, not to circumvent it. But in this scripture, he takes a step back and denounces not just the sins in the Ten Commandments like adultery and murder, but the behaviors and mindsets that are precursors to those sins like looking at a woman lustfully or being angry with a brother without judgment. As inherently sinful individuals, it does not take much for us to err and sin against God – this is exactly why Jesus came and why Paul tells us to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Choosing God Daily
Living for Christ is a daily choice and we should not neglect any kind of fellowship with God because it is in the daily choices that we make that our relationship is further developed or eroded. If we allow erosion, it is a slippery slope whether we realize it or not. I am not suggesting that we will not fall or sin, but rather, when we do, we return to Him that much sooner because we already know where a life without Him leads. That is why we came to Christ because we couldn’t do it ourselves. We celebrated Father’s Day yesterday and as I celebrated my earthly father and the intentional father he is, I also celebrated my Heavenly Father who is more gracious than I deserve, especially when I have not always chosen Him or emulated Christ. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He is always waiting for us, ready to run out and intreat us.
Let us not be so arrogant as to think we can go one day without Him for we need Him every hour.
