Sometimes we read stories in the Bible, and they are either so familiar or so foreign to us that we can’t seem to find a focal point in the lesson. The prodigal son is one of Jesus’ most famous parables, but it’s more than a story of a forgiving father. It’s also a picture of how our Father’s kingdom functions. I found this fantastic summary of this parable that I wanted to share with you.
Luke 15:11-32
“Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather-brained fellow forced his fond father to fork over the farthings and flew to foreign fields and frittered his fortune, feasting fabulously with faithless friends.
"Fleeced by his fellows, fallen by fornication, and facing famine, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy farmyard. Fairly famishing, he fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from fodder fragments. “Fooey! My father’s flunkies fare finer,” the frazzled fugitive forlornly fumbled, frankly facing facts. Frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding, he fled forthwith to his family. Falling at his father’s feet, he forlornly fumbled, “Father, I’ve flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor!”
"The farsighted father, forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch a fatling from the flock and fix a feast.
"The fugitive’s fault-finding brother frowned on fickle forgiveness of former folderol. But the faithful father figured, “Filial fidelity is fine, but the fugitive is found! What forbids fervent festivity? Let flags be unfurled. Let fanfares flare”
"And the father’s forgiveness formed the foundation for the former fugitive’s future faith and fortitude.” -- (Attributed to W.O. Taylor)
Would you be able to summarize this story based on what you just read? Truth is we often get hung up on words or one scene from the story, and we fail to see what the story is really telling us. The beauty of God’s word is that the more you see the big picture of God’s goal, the more you see how each teaching, miracle, or command leads us closer to acting like we’re part of God’s kingdom!
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