The Prodigal God

Prod-i-gal: (1) Recklessly extravagant, (2) having spent everything

This has been a thought provoking week, triggered by a simple yet powerful re-look of the Prodigal son story (Luke 15:11-32) by Timothy Keller. An excerpt including this story can be found here.

To summarize, the two brothers represent a different way to be alienated from God and a different way to seek acceptance into the kingdom of heaven. Hence, this is not just about God’s unconditional love for people (referencing the younger brother's response to his father) but also about the elder brother’s self righteousness and legalistic spirit. Simply put, this is a story about the Prodigal Sons.

While most people think of sin as failing to keep God’s rules of conduct, Jesus’ definition of sin goes beyond it. We think that just because we keep the rules, obey God, we now have the ‘right’ to tell God what to do, He owes us His blessings. Thus, the two brothers are more alike than they appear: both wanted the father’s goods rather than the father himself, both were using the father for their self-centred needs rather than loving, enjoying, and serving him for his own sake.

As I mulled over the implications of this story, was struck by how much of an Elder Brother I am. While I know the "to-dos" of being a Christian, it is an entirely different thing altogether to live a life that is spirit-filled and reflective of the grace extended to me. Even as I struggle to do what is right and live a "good Christian life", it dawned on me that it isn't just about doing what I know to be right but really, as Timothy Keller shares,

"It is setting our heart to gospel-mode as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts. All change comes from deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out of the changes that understanding creates in your heart. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self understanding, our identity and view of the world."

Building on this point, the book references a sermon made by Jonathan Edwards,

"There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of the holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness."
- A Divine and Supernatural Light, Jonathan Edwards

Moreover, we need a community of believers to spur us on and interacting with other believers also enables us to get to know Jesus better. C.S Lewis reflected on this need for a community to know an individual post the death of his close friend:

"In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's [Tolkien's] reaction to a specifically Charle's joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him 'to myself' now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald..."
- C.S Lewis, The Four Loves

Alas, both the worldly life of sensual pleasure and the religious life of ethical strictness fail to give the human heart what it is seeking. Instead, it is living a life in full understanding of our salvation in Jesus and God’s heart for us.

I think I need a faith lift...