While we were at last weekend’s Wildfire Retreat, we learned about Father’s Heart as told in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 (you can see Andrew’s recap of it here). I really liked that even though I was a leader, I still learnt a lot from the sessions and youth. My big learning moment was when we focused on the older and younger brother.
When the younger son returned home after spending all of his share of his father’s heritance, we see the Father’s Heart being shown in that
“…while he [the prodigal son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
– Luke 15:20-24
Even after the younger son had done all that he had done, his father still showed him love in the form of hugs, gifts, affirmations, and a party. However, when the older brother heard about it, he was not pleased and said
“Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “
– Luke 15:29-30
Even though both the older and younger brothers made quite different life choices (younger son squandered his father’s money and older son stayed home to work the fields), their mindset on love was the same. They thought that love and worth were tied to how they behaved. The younger son believed he should be disowned because he wasted his father’s inheritance, and probably thought that he didn’t deserve a party. Inversely, the older brother thought that he deserved the party instead of his younger brother because of his faithfulness and loyalty to his father. The older brother would likely have taken up the younger brother on his offer to be a son of his father.
God’s Heart and love for us is unconditional, but sometimes we, due to our life circumstances and previous experiences, think that we need to earn it or deserve it. We can be the older brother who thinks that we need to earn love and that if other people have done worse things than us, they don’t deserve to be loved and celebrated. We can also be the younger brother who thinks that because we’ve done something wrong, that we don’t deserve to be loved.
Both of these thought patterns can undermine our ability to receive love from God and those around us. One of the things I’m working on from from the retreat is taking the knowledge that God loves me unconditionally and try to wrap my head and heart around that. “God Loves You Unconditionally” is such a common phrase in Christianity, but it’s not necessarily the easiest to comprehend or accept. Regardless of wherever you are in your faith journey, I hope and pray that you also know, believe, and experience God’s unconditional love for you.