“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had,
set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”
Luke 15:13
The prodigals.
We all know some; they may be our children, our friends’ children, our brothers or sisters, spouses, colleagues,..
and at some point, whether the past or even the present—ourselves.
Who among us does not have prayers populated with the named of those we love,
those “pre-believers”- who have not yet seen the simplicity, love, amazing grace and glorious magnificence of such a Savior?
I came across a picture of myself today.
My hair was a bleached blonde spiked mullet as I faced the camera held by a girlfriend I can’t even remember the name of—
and although there was a smile (more like a smirk) on my face I could see the emptiness of my heart in my eyes.
Had I met Death at that time I would’ve been damned eternally, and it was a judgment I deserved.
Liar, thief, adulterer, murderer.
I deserved death, but people, some who I barely knew and others I didn’t know at all—were praying…
As they prayed God worked a miracle.
This prodigal came home, running into the arms of a Father who sought me out relentlessly, and probably you, too…
Take heart beloved.
As we pray for our pre-believers He is inclining His ear and He will chase them down just as relentlessly in His perfect timing.
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:31-39