Repentant Hearts
Repentant Hearts
Our Lord’s parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) describes the spiritual condition of all who have turned their backs on God and are wasting their lives pleasing themselves. 3 Luke 15:24 tells us the boy was lost and dead, and verse 17 reveals he was ignorant, for he had to “come to his senses.” It was this ignorance of himself and what real life was all about that made him do such foolish things.
As he sat with the pigs and took inventory, he realized that his father’s house was the best place to live after all and that his father was a kind and generous man. “So he got up and went to his father” (Luke 15:20).
Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Every spiritual deficiency sinners have is met and overcome when they come to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ.
Sinners are lost, but Jesus is the way to the Father’s house.
Sinners are ignorant, but Jesus is the truth about the Father.
Sinners are spiritually dead, but Jesus is the life and shares it with those who repent and trust Him.
The boy knew his life was in a mess and that it was all his fault, but that wasn’t what motivated him to return home. “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” (Luke 15:17). It was not the badness of the sinner but the goodness of the father that drew him back home. Paul had that in mind when he wrote, “God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4).
When he got close to home, his father saw him, ran to him, embraced him, and led him back home. The stains and smells of the far country were washed off the boy and he was given a rich garment, shoes, and a ring to wear. The past was forgiven and forgotten, and he made a new beginning.
And so may sinners today.