relationship of a child to its Father. All that the Father has becomes ours, our
inheritance. And we do not need to leave home to access it. It is ours because we
are sons and daughters. We stay home and work with our Father in His business,
His vineyard, His harvest field. We lack and want for nothing, for all He has
belongs to us too. We are family, and Christ our first born has paid the price and
cleansed us from every sin. So we are home to stay, eternally.
If on the other hand we reject God’s authority and leave, at this point then we
squander any good teaching and guidance we ever had and do the exact opposite,
living as though there is no God. Many become disobedient, sinful and
blasphemous in their actions and utterances. Before long, we begin to reap the
wages of sin, ‘... for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap’ (Galatians 6:7, New
King James Version). And the wages of sin are not enjoyable, contrary to what we
might have thought.
Life begins to grow bitter for us, we are broke (spiritually), and our friends and
companions begin to desert us. Life is lonely; everyone is busy with their own
issues and burdens. No one has time for real fellowship or friendship. No one
wants to know you for you; everyone is in it for something. Everyone and
everything is busy. Even the TV and the internet are busy! No matter how much
we may get in material wealth, no matter how much pleasure and passion we
allow ourselves, the pain inside our hearts just grows deeper and stronger. We
begin to be keenly aware of that empty place inside us which nothing seems to fill.
A void that we are now keenly aware is begging to be filled with the beautiful
presence of our Father, a Father we have long deserted, a Father we have grieved.
Many sink to rock bottom not just spiritually but also physically. They become
involved in substance abuse, abuse of the body, crime and even jail; burdens with
no one to turn to. These often lead to other difficulties such as marital problems,
family problems and societal problems. Whether we are rich or poor, whether we
have friends or not, whether we are successful or not, the emptiness inside grows.
Nothing seems designed to fill it. At this point, the life of the prodigal has become
our life:
‘”After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he
began to be in need.^ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent