Love Them Know Matter What!

Luke 15:11-24 (The Message Bible)

Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs.

He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop,

but no one would give him any. 

"That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death.

I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you, I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.

"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here - given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.

Does this story sound familiar to you. Yes, it's the story of the Prodigal Son. The son that asked for his inheritance and when he received it, he left his family and went off and squandered everything. He came back begging his Father to forgive him and take him back, even if he took him back as a hired servant. The Father didn't even let him get his prepared speech out, before he started embracing him and preparing for a welcome home celebration. The Father didn't care about the sons apology, what mattered to him was that his once thought to be lost or dead son, was back in his arms.
Isn't that just like our God Almighty, our Heavenly Father. He knows that you are straying away from His arms, His path, His plan. Yet, when you walk towards Him, He is running toward you with His arms open wide. When you take that long walk to the altar to ask for forgiveness, your Heavenly Father is meeting you halfway, loving on you and clearing the path for you to continue walking and by the time you've gotten to the altar, the feast and celebration has already began.

And don't you know where there is celebration, there is also criticism......

Luke 15:25-30 (The Message Bible)
"All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, 'Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast - barbecued beef! - because he has him home safe and sound.' 

"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'"

I'm sure that the older brother felt injustice and overlooked. Here he is working so hard at being the best son he could be. And here is the younger brother running off with his inheritance prematurely then come crawling back asking for forgiveness and then probably wanting another inheritance.
If you were the older sibling, wouldn't you feel wronged and overlooked?
If we allow pride and self to get into our thinking then we would agree with the older brother. But when we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our mind, then we can understand that the older brother was wrong in the way he is thinking.
It's not up to us to judge anyone, and criticise how they are blessed. Know matter what sin a person has committed in the past, as long as the Father up above has forgiven them and has welcomed them back into His kingdom, then that's all that matters. Who are we to say that we've been here working so hard and yet we are overlooked?
Look around at all that you have that the same Father has given you!
Do not allow your own selfish pride to reek havoc upon someone else's blessing!

To those of you that may have a loved one who has strayed from the path that was etched out for them, don't give up on hope, keep on trusting, having faith and praying, knowing that God has a Master Plan (Jesus Christ) for their life and through this Plan, they will be redeemed!!

Luke 15:31-32 (The Message Bible) says; "His father said, 'Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours - but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!"