When Prodigals Come Home

There are multitudes of prodigals out there. These young men and women are convinced that there is something better they are missing out on. They may attend worship services, say all the right things, but in their minds and hearts they are wandering. Drifting further from God and from home in their attitudes and actions. They feel like sin and the pleasures of this world have something to offer that life in Christ cannot give them.

Multiple times over young men and young women make a conscience choice to walk away from Christ to pursue a path of wanton pleasure. Broken hearted fathers and mothers cry out to Jesus to bring their babies back home night and day. These broken hearted parents fear for the safety of their baby boys and baby girls who are straying and old enough to get into serious trouble.

For the prodigals, some are miserable because they are truly children of God. Every step of rebellion only makes them more miserable. They cannot forget the truth they have heard most of their lives. Sleep evades them as their minds are tormented. Sin never produces what it promises. The pleasures are fleeting and hollow in the end. Those sinful pleasures never satisfy. On the other hand, there are prodigals who attended church, prayed the prayer, got baptized but never meant it and are not truly saved. Salvation is not now nor has it ever been real for these wayward ones. They have faked it for years and are now acting out their true nature.

Sometimes these sinful seasons for the prodigal last for weeks or months. Sadly, on other occasions, prodigals my stray for years and decades. Parents weep in prayer until they have no more tears pleading with God to bring their prodigal home. I PRAISE THE LORD THAT PRODIGALS DO COME HOME.

What then? How are parents supposed to respond when the wayward child walks through the door? How are brothers and sisters to respond to sibling prodigals who caused so much heartache. "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." [Gal 6:1]

The word "restore" in that passage means to "repair, to mend, and to strengthen." When prodigals come home is not the time for a lecture, sermon, or a scolding. It is a time for prayer, for embracing, for grace, for love, and for celebration (see Luke 15). It a time for forgiveness and the extension of unconditional love. I can picture scenes in living rooms where families are gathered with the prodigal sitting in the middle. Parents and siblings are towering over the prodigal with their hands gently and mildly laid on the prodigal as prayers of thanksgiving and restoration are made. In the end I can see each family member embracing the prodigal restoring them to a right relation with Jesus and to their family.

What a beautiful scene. I have actually seen these scenes played out in the lives of prodigals and parents. What a blessed time when God brings prodigals back home. I have seen the tears of parents and prodigals alike when the prodigal comes home. Parents do not give up hope. Keep praying and trusting. Prodigal, if by some chance you find yourself reading this, let me urge you GO HOME.

Go home to Jesus and be restored, forgiven, and made whole again. The life you are chasing is not fulfilling you. You know you are miserable. Go home. Go back home to your parents who have prayed and wept over you more nights than you can ever know. Go back home to siblings who have worried over you and prayed because they are stuck in the middle. GO HOME.

What a blessed day when prodigal sons and prodigal daughters come home. May it be so Lord.