The Bible speaks
In general, in all countries, children live with their families. And in families, things don’t always go well. Family arguments are normal, everywhere in the world.
When Jesus lived in Israel, he told a parable (story) which you can read in the Bible in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, verses 11 to 32…
…Once a man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, “Give me my share of the property.”
The son wanted to leave the family, live somewhere else and do what he wanted.
So, the father divided his property between his two sons.
Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country.
At first, he made lots of friends because of his money. He did a lot of things that were not good for him, and in no time at all, the money was gone. He had to look for work. The only job he could find was looking after pigs in the fields. A dirty job that didn’t pay enough for him to eat very well.
Some time later, the son started to think, “Everything was fine before, when I was at home. Right, I’ve decided I will go home. I will see my dad and ask him to forgive me. I’ll tell him that I don’t deserve anything, and I don’t want anything.”
Ever since the son had left, the father had been hoping he would come back. He waited and waited.
The young man was on the way home when his father saw him in the distance. He was very excited and ran to hug him.
“Dad, I want to ask you to forgive me for everything. I’ll do whatever you say.”
The father was not angry with him. Just the opposite, seeing his son’s dirty and torn clothes, he got a servant to bring party clothes and another one to prepare a huge dinner.
The other son, the one who had stayed at homr, heard the music and saw the dancing. He was jealous. Unbelievable! A big party for this brother of his who had insulted his dad.
The father tried to explain, “Son, we have to be happy and enjoy ourselves, because it was as if your brother was dead and he has come back to life. He was lost but is found again.”
Everyone listening to Jesus was astonished. How can that be? Is it really enough to just ask for forgiveness, to admit that you’ve done bad stuff and disobeyed? It’s enough, enough to get back into the family and live with them again.
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Let me tell you why Jesus told the parable about this family.
Jesus wanted us to understand that God loves us because God is love. He is just like the father in the story, to all of us. When we do wrong, it’s called sin and sin separates us from the kingdom of God.
God can forgive us thanks to Jesus, who came to find and save the lost…people like that young son…people like you and me. Jesus is the only person who can be called the Saviour of the World.
God loves you so much that he sent Jesus, his only son, to take away all the sin and disobedience. God certainly doesn’t want us to stay away from him.
Just like the young son, ask God to forgive you. Jesus helps us find your way home to God’s house.
