Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11—32The young man did an unwise thing. But we might chalk it up to his inexperience. He asked for his inheritance and went off to look for happiness. Not finding it he went back home only to discover that all he ever needed and wanted had been there all the time. But wasn’t his older brother also unaware of that?
When the prodigal son came home and was rewarded with a party, the older son complained to his father, “You never gave me so much as a kid goat to celebrate with my friends.” His father was startled to find his older son was so unhappy. And so he said to him, “My son, you are with me always, and everything I have is yours.” Likewise, everything God our Father has is ours. Do we realize that?
I think many Christians identify with the older son. Though they occasionally sin, they never really leave the Church or give up their faith. But they are not happy because they do not realize the wonders they have. The prodigal son found out what he had by leaving it behind and living a life of sin. The faithful son had to have his good fortune pointed out to him by his father. Should we run off and live in sin so we can come to appreciate the good things of God? I don’t think so. Let us just wake up, take a closer look at the goodness of God that surrounds us, and count our blessings.
“My son, my daughter, my child, you are with me always, and everything I have is yours.” To be better off than we already are is an illusion created by the devil.
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