Seeing this picture, many of you will recall the story of "The Prodigal Son" found in Luke 15:11-32. This story, I believe, was placed in the Bible for a reason and then some. More than one topic or discussion can be pulled from this and talked or preached on for days, but right now, we are focusing on the son's reasoning for leaving and the reaction of his father after his return and how we should deal with a child who does the same. So, let's get started.
It isn't a new thing that more and more girls and boys are running from home, seeking another life filled of pleasure and fun; this practice has been going on for thousands of years. Some, not all, of these young people come from well-to-do families with Christian backgrounds. They grow up hearing Bible stories, go to church with their parents, etc. and yet, it doesn't seem to keep their heart content. Why?
Today, as then, "self" steps in. A lot of young people are easily influenced by others and as a part of growing up, their natural self steps in for a peek and tries to convince him/her that things could be a lot more fun on the other side. Our flesh wants to break free from rules and responsibilities and because of sin's curse, it usually wins. The prodigal son knew how good his life was, but wanted something better. It wasn't until he was rolling around with the swine that he realized, fully, that even his father's servants wanted for nothing (v 17) and here he was reducing himself to a pig and its slop. We can assume, by reading the whole story, that the Father raised him well and raised him the best he knew how by God's standards. So, what should you do if this happens to one of your children and how should you react? Granted, the outcome of this story doesn't always end up like it should, but we are still responsible for how we deal with it.
Giving our children back to the Lord.
"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
Our gift from God, is our children. Regardless of your beliefs, as a Christian, I believe that God created everything and one of those beautiful creations, is a child. My responsibility as a mother, is to raise my children in a godly home. Every night there is a Bible story, throughout the day verses are thrown out to feed them, prayers are said, church is a refuge, so forth and so on. What we have to understand is, is that doing all these steps does not necessarily mean that it protects us from trials and hardships. I can tell my children and raise them to the best of my ability according to the Bible, but if they wander off and leave my instruction, there's nothing to do at that time to convince them otherwise. This isn't a completely hopeless situation, either. The prodigal son knew exactly the difference from right and wrong because his other brother bore evidence of it (v 29) but he still chose to leave home and run wild.
Pray for your child/children daily.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6
Any issue you may have, praying about it will be the most effective thing you can do. Lift your child up to the Lord daily in prayer. If you don't have any children yet, pray. In the womb, pray. As a small child, pray. As an adult, pray. No matter what stage they are in, your responsibility as the parent, the caretaker of the gift God gave you, is to pray constantly over that child.
How should we react to their decision to leave the faith or even if they have doubts?
Just stop, pull them aside, and listen. Make it a priority to have a one-on-one conversation with your son/daughter about his/her decision to become unconcerned about God. Be an example to them as well and when and if they do decide to get back to where they used to be, you run as fast as you can to that beautiful child of yours and kiss all over them! Silly? No! The father of the prodigal son couldn't help himself but to kiss all over his son out of pure excitement and joy over seeing his son from afar, coming back home. C.H. Spurgeon put it best when he said:
"I do not know that the prodigal saw his father, but his father saw him. The eyes of mercy are quicker than the eyes of repentance."
What a beautiful way of describing how the prodigal son's father had reacted to his son's returning and Spurgeon was not only referring to him in this statement, he was referring to how God sees one of his sheep come back from going astray. Your child might not see it now, but if it be the Lord's Will, one day, they will come back from that lost path and hopefully find you running towards them as fast as you can. I'll leave you with this and hope you read this and keep it in your heart always, regarding this story: C.H. Spurgeon went on to say:
"I do not suppose that the prodigal travelled very fast. I should imagine that he came very slowly—
With many a sob and many a sigh."
God bless you, brothers and sisters and never give up hope! Xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment