Luke 15

Psalm 73:28
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
That I may tell of all his works.

A son has robbed his father of joy. The son cares not that the father has loved him, has provided for him, has protected him and more for all of his days. The son yearns for his own path. After taking the spoils of his despise of his father, he makes for a land far away, a land that will appease his youthful desires of frivolity and freedom.

During his time there, he finds fleeting happiness. His every move is to his own liking, bringing him to the brink of falling forever, though he knows it not. With seemingly unlimited funds, he wastes away in the world, taking too much and giving too little; forgetting those whose love was deep. He trades a future joy for a current of excitement, exchanges steadfast love for explosive nights.

Soon, he finds himself weakened by the falsehood he has found. Slowly, his wealth reveals itself as the poorest of riches. He is knocked down from his temporary place of joy; the lights of nights spent in folly fade. The community he counted as so heavenly leaves once he is robbed of his riches. Alone and without the pleasures of the world, he clings to the muddiest of times. Finding himself entangled by the stench of what he has become surrounded by, he longs for the steadfast love of his father.

The father spends his days in the joy of what he has. A compassionate wife, a plentiful homestead, and a faithful, hard-working son. His days are marked by constant joy and provision for all who come to him. Yet still he finds a deep pit in himself: he has been emptied of part of his love. A child whom he so cared for has been stolen by the world, by the lies which invaded his heart. The father knows his joys as he knows his pains. He longs for all his children to come home, to remain in his constant blessing.

Morning after morning, the father waits with unchanging eyes as he looks down the long road before his home, hoping his prodigal son returns to him. Days pass, the world changes. But the father never ceases to wait on his son, with a heart growing in love for him each day. He dreams of the return, spends restless nights thinking of his son who has been cast away from him by winds of deception. Never does his gaze leave that long road, the road open to all who choose to grace its solid ground, for the father never turns away any who walk upon it. Yet even after all who ventured down it, still the father longed to see his son return to him.

He waited.

The son found himself longing for his father, amongst the filth he found himself in. He sought to return home, though surely he could not call that place home anymore. He had been treacherous, traitorous, and evil to the place he once knew so well. Yet still he would be better to go back there, living as a foreigner in the land he once called home. He rose from his despicable place and made for what used to be home.

The father continued to wait. Day by day he waited for the path to be tread by his long lost son. Days turned to years as his wife became more beautiful, his land more glorious, and his faithful son more mighty. The days passed by with no sign of the return.

One morning alike the others, joy and glory behind in his home, a long path empty of his son before him, the father spotted in the distance another approach to seek refuge with him. His eyes peered, and at once he knew. The father jump up, tears welled in his eyes. He sprinted to his son. The son stopped dead in his tracks, at wonder with the approach of the man he had once cursed. The father cried out the name of his returned son. The long distance disappeared behind him, father was reunited with son. He embraced his child with strong arms, and did not let go. Tears overtook the son slowly, wonder in his heart.

"Father, I have done evil to you. Yet you embrace me more than ever before. Why?"

"You are my child. I waited all the day long, my love never left you. Now your love has returned. Come and share in your inheritance."

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing than any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

As they entered the gates to the father's land, a great chorus rang. Tears were gone, the son now knew the love of his father in full. Grace. Compassion. Faithfulness.

A great feast was brought to celebrate the son's return. Though some opposed this joy, they soon learned and grew wise of the depths of their father's love. The feast went ever on, never ceasing, never beginning.

The father stepped back outside, yearning for another child to come back home.

A daughter tricked that she had no worth, no beauty.
A son built upon his own power set to fall apart.
A proud daughter too hard to accept love, too full of hate to give love.
A daughter fearing for her life if she accepts the father.
A son despising his father.

The father sits and waits for these and more. Another appears deep in the horizon. He jumps up, tears welling in his eyes. Another child has come.

Jesus, John 14:2-3
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."

In His Majesty's Service.


Revelation 19:6-9

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God."