Sunday 27 Jan 2013

Sunday Reading: Luke 15:11-16

Key Verse: Luke 15:13
13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Devotion:
The story of the prodigal son has two (or three) parts to it; the first part being that the younger son demanded (or lusted after) when he wanted before taking it and wasting it through riotous living. That is a part of us that we can all relate to – we may not desire to have a bunch of money but we do have these feeling where we do want everything in a single lump so that we can do what we want. That lust for things gets us into more trouble than good. We may be seeking to have all of our holiday in one bash – but then what will we do when we have to work non-stop for the rest of our lives? We may want all our food in one huge pile – but what would we do when that food went off and we had nothing left to eat?

Asking for everything in one lump sum is not the wisest thing we can do – God has given us so many things that He wants us to be modest with so that we can learn the meaning of being modest, sharing, earning and providing. God wants us to be able to live in this world where we are going to be faced by people making decisions based on lust and desires instead of wise decisions based on modesty, caring and sharing. The world is not looking for ways of being modest and caring but is rather looking for people who will be willing to give as they take, serve as they demand and listen as they speak.

God does not want us to go down that route but rather that we should go down the route of being willing to serve, give, share and do this all with modesty and honesty. God does not want us to demand all His promises up front so that we can live a fantastic life whilst all around us suffer. God does not want us to run off and party far away from Him. Instead, God wants us to ask in moderation knowing that all good things in moderation will not corrupt us. God wants us to stay close to Him at all times so that when something does go wrong, we will be close enough to ask for help.

God has promised us mansions in heaven, treasures  both in heaven and on earth and a whole lot more than we can think of; but He wants us to be sensible about them so that we are not lead off in temptation but rather stick close to Him at all times.

Points to Ponder:
What do you want most from God?

Are you asking God in moderation?