“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”
Have you ever had a dream that just sticks with you and you can’t seem to shake? I had a dream like this several years ago, and I can still see it just as vividly today. In the dream, I was in my hometown, walking home. I lived close enough to most places where walking or riding my bike was a regular activity for me. I knew every street, every house, every car parked in driveways. I was walking along the familiar route, only a few blocks from my house. I turned the corner and suddenly I was on a different street in a different part of town. I kept walking, feeling slightly confused. Once again I turned the corner and ended up on another different street. Panic began to set in as I felt lost and did not know how to get home. The frustrating thing was that I knew exactly where I was in my town but I was lost on how to get home.
That feeling of being lost is now what I imagine when I read the three parables of Jesus in Luke 15 that each talk about something or someone being lost. Each one shows the importance of what was lost being found. The parables build to the final one where Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. In this story, we have the beautiful image of God being a loving and welcoming father. The father in the story was ready to welcome back his lost son even after the son disrespected him and basically wished his father was dead by taking his share of the estate while his father was still living. We read what kind of life this son had after he left his father’s house. We see his desperation when he decides to go back as a servant to his father. Instead, the father runs to him, welcomes him, and restores him as his beloved son. The father takes his lost son and helps him find his way back home. Not just the physical residence of his home, but “home” as that place of being loved, secure, at peace, found, and restored back to the family.
We can try to find our way home on our own, but we will only end up more lost. We see this in the older brother in the story. He tried to do everything that his father asked, but his pride kept his heart hard and distant from the father’s love. He was still lost even amongst the familiarity of his physical home. God, in his unconditional love for his children, is willing to find us wherever we are and bring us home to him. You are FOUND.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Forgive me for the times that I wander or when my pride convinces me I can do life on my own. Thank you for going out of your way to find me and bring me home to you.