Are you familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son? This story has been shared to us several times since we were young, and I’m sure it’s been used as reference in many other scenarios. In week 2 of the LOST AND FOUND series, our preacher George Gabriel shared the story of the Prodigal Son. Though this story is so familiar to me already, I especially loved the way he shared it tonight. He tried tackling the story from a different point of view and was pretty successful in doing so.

Many of us can relate to the younger son…at some point in our lives, we all got lost and ran away. It is common for humans to want more. We are rarely contented with what we have and we feel as though we need to venture out to find more. This may be true for some cases, but in other cases, we simply ran away because we feel lost, not realizing that running away was what made us lost in the first place.

The younger son ran away to find wealth and riches. He eventually got tired and realized how much he missed his home. Before heading back home, he had prepared a speech, asking for forgiveness from his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

Notice the first line “BUT WHILE HE WAS STILL A LONG WAY OFF…” To see something at a distance means that you were actually looking for it. His father saw him from a distance because all this time, his father never stopped waiting and hoping for his son to come home. As soon as the younger son arrived, he immediately started asking for forgiveness for leaving home. However, even before he finished his long rehearsed speech, his father interrupted and called the servants to bring out his best robe and prepare a feast FOR HIS SON HAS RETURNED!

Just think about how powerful that short verse is. Many times in life, when we hurt someone, we apologize profusely for the other person to forgive us. But in the story of the Prodigal Son, the father had already forgiven him even before he asked for it. And the Father said, “You’re still my SON no matter what.” WOW. Such powerful words. The Father… our Father… our God sees us the same way. No matter what we’ve done, no matter how far we’ve gone or how lost we are… WE ARE STILL HIS SONS and DAUGHTERS. Nothing has and will ever change.

Now what about the older son? Many people focus on the younger son that they neglect the other side of this story. After the younger son came home, the older son was mad and jealous. He did not like it that his brother was getting all the attention despite the many things he has done for his father. Did you ever think that maybe we’re like the older brother? Maybe the parable of the LOST son was also referring to the older brother who was also lost (just not physically).

A lot of us are worried to be the younger son, but how many of us are wary about being the older brother? He could just be as lost as his younger brother but doesn’t realize it. We ourselves could be lost and not even know it. When God gives a message, we sometimes think of how PERFECT it is for someone else, yet we fail to realize that God is speaking to US. I’ve been lost in more ways than one countless times! I’ve been lost physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially and more! And it SUCKS to be lost… the depression, the confusion… honestly; it’s so hard to trust that everything will be alright when nothing is really happening at the moment. I know I have to trust God, but it’s not as easy as it looks. And when that time happens, we need to just close our eyes and realize that it’s all part of God’s plan. Just pray that He help us through it.