The Journey Home part 11: Now that we're home

Luke 15:31-32: “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” How the Kingdom of God operates is different from the rest of the world. When the prodigal son arrived home, there was a new way of thinking and speaking that he had to learn. However, the older son remained in the father’s house, but even though he wasn’t the one to leave, he never operated in the inheritance that was rightfully his. He thought that he had to earn the favour of his father. He wanted to prove his worth to, but the truth is that everything that the father had belonged to to him. To operate in the Father’s house, we have to learn who we are and what belongs to us as His children. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life.” One of the major areas that we must guard our heart is in the area of being offended. Being offended is a choice. It means allowing hurt and unforgiveness to fester in our hearts, and it skews the way we perceive things. The older brother felt mistreated. He felt that his younger brother didn’t get what he deserved in terms of judgement and that he didn’t get what he deserved for all the work that he had done for his father. This way of thinking hindered the older brother from walking in what was rightfully his the entire time. When the older brother refused to go in to celebrate the return of his younger brother, the father came out and said to him, “son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours.” The truth was that the father loved the older son too, and that everything that his inheritance was his to take! As believers we need to guard our heart against offence because in order to appropriate what is rightfully ours, we need to think, talk and act in line with how God sees things.