"I Have Sinned Against Heaven" (Luke 15:18)

"Got together all he had, set off for a distant country"
(Luke 15:13)

Our God is a God of second, third... multiple chances, who is madly in love with us. The sad part is we are blinded by the lures of this world and we fail to see this magnificent love. God does not prevent us from sinning and rebelling. He has given us a free will to choose between good and evil. I think of all those people who have left the Church and gone their own way. God’s blessings are still with them, similar to what the wealthy father did in the story of the Lost Son. He gave his younger son a share of the inheritance. The son did not leave his father’s house empty handed.

The Prodigal Son’s selfishness and stubbornness took him to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. Remember that, any place you chose to live away from God is a distant country. It does not have to be far away geographically. So famished was he that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything. (Luke 15:16). Whenever you walk away from God, you will be in want. He squandered all his wealth his life had come to nothing, just ashes. When you have ashes in your life, it means that something has been burnt. Ashes are a result of lust, disobedience and rebellion.

Reasons and Results of Walking Away From God:

Desire – It always begins with a desire, “Father give me my share of the estate” (v.12)

Deception – Satan never sleeps he is there to deceive us, “Not long after that” (v.13)

Decision – He left everything he already owned, “got together all he had and set off” (v.13)

Departure – To depart from the will of God is slavery to sin, “Set off for a distant country” (v.13)

Delight – In sin, “squandering his wealth in wild living” (v.13, 30)

Disappointment – Everything the world offers you will disappoint you if your relationship is not right with God.

Despair – How am I going to get out of the mess I have done?

Disastrous – People do not realize that, there is a solution to every problem. So they turn themselves to evil, sometimes even take their own life and end it all. God can forgive every sin ever committed.

When he [the younger son] came to his senses… he got up and went to his father (Luke 15:17, 20). Even though God loves us immensely, he waits patiently until we “come to our senses.” God will never force us into anything; he just loves us to perfection, that does not mean that we should try his patience. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son” (v.20) the only place in the Bible where God is portrayed running towards us. God is full of compassion and mercy, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). The moment we repent and turn away from our sins, God welcomes us with outstretched arms. Every time a lost person returns home to God the Father, there is a banquet in Paradise.

Some of us are like the older brother we do not understand the Father’s love. We are so caught up with working and earning the Father’s love that we miss the opportunity to love—either to give it or receive it. We behave like slaves, not heirs of the Father. When God created us, he knew we would fall. When that happens, He runs towards us to pick us up and enfolds us in his loving embrace. Nothing we do can surprise God, He knows our feelings and desires. The only right attitude before God is one of infinite gratitude.

Take the first step towards God: Are you willing to come to your senses? Make a decision and act on your decision. God does not want us to be spiritually independent but to depend on him at all times. Lent is a time for us to change. Jesus did not come to teach us penance and fasting but rather to love and forgive and most importantly, to do the Father’s Will.

“Heavenly Father, your love is immeasurable, nothing I do can change that. I thank you for loving me in spite of my many sins. Lord, thank you for embracing me in my darkest moments and in the longest hours.”