O My Son Absalom

His love for me is not fragile. It is enduring. It grieves from love when I stray. It is quite constant.

The Life of Jacob According to Grace

I’ve been reading Genesis 25-33 about the life of Jacob. He is a very strange figure indeed, but I began to think about the events in his life from the perspective of grace. Here is a guy who is chosen beforehand more clearly than just about anyone else in history by God for blessing. He […]

God is a Softie

  We’re going through the book of Luke in my men’s Bible study, and we happened to have arrived at the story of the prodigal son Saturday. Naturally, I noticed new things, as always when you encounter a familiar scripture and pray for fresh insights. This stood out to me on this reading: “Then He […]

Lavish Grace

photo © 2007 Jed Scattergood | more info (via: Wylio) “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His […]

The Prodigal Son 6. Unapplauded Love

The story of the prodigal son: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-32&version=NIV As usual, I was thinking the other day about the prodigal son story, and I remembered a particular insight that I really wanted to share. As Henri Nouwen observes, we may identify with the younger prodigal son, or we may identify with the disapproving elder son, but God […]

The Prodigal Son 5. The Responsible Son

The story of the prodigal son: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-32&version=NIV Sometimes, did you know, other people get blessed instead of you? Sometimes other people much less deserving than you prosper and are honored. Sometimes, God likes to forgive and bless other people to whom you would rather see “justice” meted out. Sometimes God just will not do the […]

The Prodigal Son 4. The Son’s Return

The story of the prodigal son: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-32&version=NIV Henri Nouwen, in his marvelous little book “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Meditation on Fathers, Brothers, and Sons”, makes the observation that if you look very closely at Rembrandt’s painting of the return of the prodigal son, there is something funny about the appearance of the […]

The Prodigal Son 3. The Prodigal FATHER

The story of the prodigal son: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-32&version=NIV The free dictionary defines prodigal this way: 1. recklessly wasteful or extravagant, as in disposing of goods or money2. lavish in giving or yielding prodigal of compliments I think we get words like prodigious, product, productive, from the same root. We’ve heard the term ‘prodigal son’ so many […]

The Prodigal Son: 2. The Mindset of the Prodigal

The story of the prodigal son: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-32&version=NIV The son who wished the father would die, who only wanted his money, who left and squandered his whole inheritance, at last came to himself. That’s what it says, “he came to himself.” We tend to think that he squandered everything and then immediately came home, but notice […]

The Prodigal Son: 1. The Father who Doesn’t Control

I’ve been waiting eagerly to get to the parable of the prodigal son, as it is the richest and most profound teaching about the father heart of God in all of scripture. Everything up to this point has been leading to this teaching. Let’s start by reading it: ==============================Then He said: “A certain man had […]