“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:31,32)
Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Son is a story of God’s abundant grace. I imagine that most Christians can relate with one or the other of the sons portrayed in this story. Probably most of us relate better with the older son – the one who stayed by his father working.
In recent years it has become “trendy” to portray the older son in a very negative light. I suppose I can see why. The older son should have been happy at the return of his younger brother; after all, “he was lost” and had returned! This should have been great news. Surely the older brother could not have wanted his younger sibling to remain estranged, ultimately dying in his misery and sin? But there he was, angry at the celebration under way. Many are quick to jump on his case, but there is one who does not. Right in the midst of the older son’s anger, his father gently says, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” He goes on to explain why it is a time to celebrate.
A father’s love for his children is great; God’s love for all of us is limitless. His desire is that everyone everywhere would receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation. So abundant is the grace of God that it can sometimes feel unfair. Jesus warned his followers more than once to be on guard against being jealous of God’s grace. We love it when God’s mercy extends to us; we love God’s grace when it reaches those we love; we may even find it in our hearts to rejoice when our enemies receive God’s grace. But occasionally we have all been guilty of desiring the justice of God rather than his mercy.
God’s desire is that all people should be saved – and he wants that to be our desire also. The good news is that even when we fail in this, God is there with us, gently reminding us that we must celebrate God’s abundant mercy even when it feels unfair to us. God’s grace is wonderfully abundant, and for that we can always be thankful.
In October we were able to pay all of our missionaries 100 percent of their target allowance. We used $32,671 from the General Fund to meet these needs, leaving a General Fund balance of $19,266 at the end of October. Our Benefits Fund carried a balance of $221,856.
Thank you for your ongoing support!