by Don Emmitte |
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To
illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: "A man had
two sons. The younger son told his father, `I want my share of your estate
now, instead of waiting until you die.' So his father agreed to divide his
wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his
belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there he wasted all his
money on wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine
swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer
to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods
he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, `At home even the
hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I
will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against
both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.
Please take me on as a hired man." ' So he returned home to his
father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him
coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him,
and kissed him. His son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against both
heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.' But
his father said to the servants, `Quick! Bring the finest robe in the
house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his
feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must
celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned
to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began.”
(Luke 15:11-24 NLV). There was once a dad who had a
three-year-old son named Brandon. One day, Brandon sees his dad eating
chocolate chip cookies in the living room and says to himself, 'Daddy
loves chocolate chip cookies with milk. So I'm going to give Daddy a glass
of milk.' With that thought Brandon goes into the dining room and drags a
chair from the dining room into the kitchen, leaving a trail of scratch
marks on the floor. Brandon climbs up on the chair and hitches himself
onto the counter to pull at the cabinet door. Wham! It smashes against the
adjacent cabinet door, leaving a gash where the handle hit it. Brandon
reaches for a glass, accidentally knocking two others off the shelf.
Crash! Tinkle, tinkle! But Brandon doesn't care. He's thinking, 'I'm going
to get Daddy some milk!' Meanwhile, Brandon's dad is watching all this,
wondering if he should step in and save the rest of his kitchen. He
decides, for the moment, to watch a little more as Brandon scrambles off
the chair, dodging the pieces of broken glass, and heads for the
refrigerator. Pulling violently on the refrigerator door, Brandon flings
it wide open - and it stays open, of course. Brandon puts the glass on the
floor - out of harm's way, supposedly - and grabs, not the little half
gallon of milk, but the big gallon container that is full of milk. He rips
open the top, pours it in the vicinity of the glass, and even manages to
get some milk in the glass. The rest goes all over the floor. Finally
done, Brandon puts the milk carton on the floor and picks up the glass
yelling, "Daddy, I got something for you!" He runs into the
living room, trips, and spills milk all over the place - the floor, the
sofa, his dad. Brandon stands up and looks around. He sees broken glass,
milk everywhere, cabinets open, and his dad with milk from his eyebrows to
his toes, and starts to cry. Through his tears, he looks up at his dad
with that pained expression that says, "What are you going to do to
me?" His dad only smiles. He doesn't see a kid that just destroyed
his house. Instead he sees a beautiful little boy whom he loves very much.
It doesn't matter what he's done. Brandon's dad stretches his arms out to
hold his little boy tight and says, "This is my son!" 1 When we talk about God as our Father, the kind of father we're talking about is Brandon's father. God is a father who loves us unconditionally, even though we make a real mess of things. This is the truth within our reading this morning. He desires to love you like that too! 1.
Hot
Illustrations for Youth Talks; Rice,
Wayne; Copyright 1994 by Youth Specialties, Inc. |
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