Title: Predicted Happiness
Contents
Predicted happiness (Luke 15:17-24)
Last week I pondered on the subject of the predicted misfortune. The story was that the second son left his father's bosom and went to a faraway country to use his wealth in vain and debauchery, and then he fell into a pig's life.
It is the same when we insist on leaving God's arms. God allows us to turn our backs on God and realize how unfortunate and sad it is to live on our own.
I. The second son turned himself in a distant country (17)
It means to “turn on your own” and return to yourself. It means that you have made up your mind. A life apart from God also loses its true self. When a person who was created in God's image disobeys God, he is denying his own existence.
It was hunger that motivated him to repent, but it was to his father that he wanted to return. If I had gone to a distant country and had done well and prospered, I would not have thought of my father. It is a curse, not a blessing, that we go well apart from God. In this case, the opportunity to think about God and the opportunity to come back is lost. Those who have left God's bosom must turn back as soon as possible. You must remember your father. Truly, only God has food that will never go hungry (Amos 8:11-13; John 4:14). We must quickly turn around and return to the arms of God. Only then can you restore your original position.
Ⅱ.The second son got up and went back to his father (1st 20)
True repentance means returning to the original position. His original location is his father's house. There, he lived filially to his father and obeyed his words, a place where food was plentiful, a place where there were many laborers, and his father's house. This was the original location of the second son. Going back there is repentance.
True repentance must be accompanied by a change of behavior according to a change of heart. Getting up and going to his father's house was the first decision of his will since his conversion. True repentance requires confession of sin. Ah....