Friday 3 Feb 2017

February 3: Luke 15:25-32

Key Verse: Luke 15:31
And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

Devotion:
Most of us can remember the parable of the lost son; how the son took his inheritance early and went off to spend it living it up somewhat. He wasted everything which was supposed to last him for the rest of his life. His greed took over and he went out and lost it all. But when he was at his lowest point, he remembered the good life his father’s servants had and wanted to come back and live as a servant because that was better than his current life. But the first thing he had to get over was his pride and come back in a repentant mood!

But how many of us remember the second son, the son who stayed at home. That son stayed with his father and continued to work with his father. He continued to listen and do whatever his father required. He followed the law. But when his brother came back after wasting everything, his anger was kindled because his father kept back no expense in the celebrations when the wayward younger son had returned. He looked at everything he had done and protested saying he was good. He was so angry he would not go back into the house and greet his brother. He even spoke about him as if he was not his own brother!

What had happened? He had been taken over with pride and self-righteousness! Up to that point he had been doing good. But unlike Job who kept everything in the correct perspective, he gave in to his jealous feelings and broke down in anger. We may well have times in our lives when we think we have done everything required and someone comes along and gets all the reward because they came in at the last second... But what we need to know is when we walk with God, our rewards come through all the time. Our blessings are given to us in small doses continually. When we see someone being given a huge blessing, we need to be happy for them because just maybe they have made a radical change in their hearts and deserve it!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get jealous when others get good things?

Are you counting your blessings?