THE PRODIGAL FACTOR

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to one and all of you dads out there...and dads to be.  I am reflecting on the story of what we call "The Prodigal Son".  What a wonderful story of redemption and a Father's love for his sons. 

Whenever you hear this story...it is usually in the negative context of a son...who was a PRODIGAL.  But in reality...the FATHER was also a PRODIGAL.  The word PRODIGAL does not appear anywhere in this story...but...it aptly describes the one son...and his Father.

PRODIGAL:  (1) Wastefully or recklessly EXTRAVAGANT (2)  Giving or yielding profusely; lavish, ie. a prodigal of smiles...prodigal with money. (3) Lavishly ABUNDANT; profuse ie. nature's prodigal resources

The negative side of the PRODIGAL would be a wasting of resources, money, time, love, etc.  The positive side of the PRODIGAL speaks of extravagant giving in abundance.  One is a lifestyle of death and curses...and the other is a lifestyle of life and peace.  We get to CHOOSE which one we want to live.

The parable of the PRODIGAL SON came when some tax collectors and sinners were coming near Him (Jesus) to listen to Him.  The religious community...the Pharisees and scribes...saw this and began what they do the best...grumbling and murmuring..."This man (Jesus) RECEIVES and EATS with them (tax collectors and sinners)" (Luke 15:1-2)  Jesus then begins to teach three parables about being LOST and FOUND.  He taught (1) The Lost Sheep (2) The Lost Coin (3) The Prodigal Son.  The end of each of these parables drives home that there is REJOICING for what was once LOST is now FOUND...and what once was DEAD...has BEGUN TO LIVE. (Luke 15:7, 9, 32)

CAST OF CHARACTERS FOR THE PRODIGAL SON PARABLE FOUND IN LUKE 15:11-32)

1.  A certain man (the Father)
2.  Two sons (younger and older)
3.  A citizen in a distant country (employee)
4.  Swine (hogs, pigs)
5.  The Father's hired men
6.  The older son's friends
7.  Harlots

The younger son...went to his father and and requested his inheritance NOW.  The father divided his WEALTH (extravagant abundant, lavish...prodigal wealth) between them.  A few days later...the younger son gathered everything together...packed his bags and caught the "one after 909"...and went on a journey into a distant country.  NOTE: One after 909 is an old Beatles song). 

While in that distant country...the younger son squandered his estate with loose living (thus the negative connotation of the word prodigal).  He had spent everything that he had...and a SEVERE FAMINE occurred in that country...and he began to be IN NEED. 

NOTE: Isn't that how it is...you put all you eggs in one basket...and when that basket is depleted...things GET WORSE. 

At this point the younger son...went and attached himself to the one of the citizens of that country and he was sent to the citizen's field...to feed swine.  The younger son was no a SWINE FEEDER.  As he FED the swine...he was getting hungry...but no one was giving  ANYTHING TO HIM. 

NOTE:  It's a sad state of affairs where the swine are eating better than you. 

When he looked around and saw where he was...and in my imagination with a mouth full of swine food...HE CAME TO HIS SENSES. 

NOTE:  I remember in 1972...two years after I had became a Christian...I was smoking more dope, drinking more booze, doing more stupid things than before I was saved, baptized in water, baptized in the Holy Ghost, teaching the Word of God...than before I was a Christian.  I threw everything away and squandered my inheritance on  LOOSE LIVING...but...then one day...I CAME TO MY SENSES.  I remember at my birthday party...where I drank everything from beer, wine, whiskey, rum, tequila (before the party had actually started...and then continued on)...and topped it off with smoking marijuana)...and thought I was LIVING THE GOOD LIFE.  That is until...I had to go make an offering at the porcelain altar (making a heave offering...aka vomiting).  I remember well...my head hung in the toilet...and my "friends" coming in and moving my head over (thanks for that at least)...urinating and replacing my head so I could continue my offering.  Not long after that I CAME TO MY SENSES...and told a friend that I was going back to the Lord.  His words are still in my head..."Boyd...you will be back in two months."  Well that was way back in 1973/74...and here it is 2012...and I am still standing by the grace of God.

So...he came to his senses and said..."How many of my father's HIRED MEN have MORE THAN ENOUGH bread, but I am dying here with hunger.  He could have sat there and complained, whined, wish he had what his father's servants had...but he did more than that.  He made a declaration..."I WILL get up and GO to my father...and will SAY to him...Father...I HAVE SINNED AGAINST HEAVEN AND IN YOUR SIGHT...I am no longer worthy to be called your son...make me as one of your hired men."  That was His declaration...but he did not end with just talking about it...the next step is what separates the REMORSEFUL from true REPENTERS.  Having remorse is being sorry...sorry that you got caught in your sin...sorry that you are reaping what you sowed...sorry that (fill in the blank) but true repentance...may have remorse...but it also has ACTION...CHANGE...change of heart, mind, attitude, direction.

The younger son GOT UP...and CAME TO HIS FATHER.  At this point in the parable...the PRODIGAL FATHER is revealed to us.  While he was still a long way off...his father SAW him...and the father felt compassion for him (in spite of all he had done)...and RAN and EMBRACED him and KISSED him again and again and again.  The PRODIGAL FATHER gave his younger son  an extravagant, lavish abundance of kisses.  Then the younger son told the father...exactly what he had declared when he had come to his senses in the pig pen.

Instead of making him a slave...he began to be extravagantly, lavishly, abundantly had his servants put on the BEST ROBE...a RING (sign of authority) on his hand and sandals on his feet...and then had a party with a roasted fatted calf (free range, organic, grass fed with no hormones or antibiotics injected) and ate and began to make merry. 

NOTE:  I keep thinking of the Christmas Carol that I love to sing...God REST YE MERRY...gentlemen.  It was not God REST YE...merry gentlemen...the MERRY was how we are to enter into a MERRY REST.

Why all the celebration for a squanderer?  "For this SON OF MINE...was DEAD...and has COME TO LIFE AGAIN...he was LOST...and has BEEN FOUND.  And they began to MAKE MERRY.

The older son...who had not squandered his inheritance...had stayed with the Father...heard the party going on...with all the music and dancing...and smell of BBQ wafting through the Ponderosa (Ben Cartwright and sons reference)...and started asking around about what was going on.  He was told the GOOD NEWS...but only heard BAD NEWS.   He became ANGRY instead of GLAD...and would not go in to the party.  The father came out and began to entreat the father...and complained about not even getting a kid/goat as pay for his faithfulness while little brother was out with harlots and squandering his inheritance/wealth.

The PRODIGAL FATHER'S response was..."My child (older son)...you have always been with me...and ALL that is MINE...is YOURS.  But we HAD TO BE MERRY...and REJOICE...for this brother of yours (younger brother)...was DAD and HAS BEGUN TO LIVE...and was LOST and has BEEN FOUND." (Luke 15:31-32)

Wow...what an extravagant, abundant, lavish Father the sons had.  I have that same sense of how God loved..and loves me...when I finally came to my senses...and came back with a heart full of remorse and repentance...and He rushed to me and lavished kisses, and celebration for me.  The sad thing is...I had access to ALL that is HIS. I did not have to go live with pigs and harlots and blow it all.

NOTE:  This is a picture of me holding my son Phillip at 2:42 on June 13th 1989.  He was born on June 10th and he CAME HOME on June 13th.  He is now 23 years old and I love him more than ever.

"Now to to Him (my Prodigal Father) who is ABLE to DO...exceeding abundant BEYOND and ABOVE all that we ask or think, according to the power that works WITHIN US...to Him be the glory in the CHURCH (gathering of saints) and in Christ Jesus...to all generations...forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

On this Father's Day...if you have any sons out there on the run...look on the horizon...and get ready to run and become PRODIGAL on him.  Remember how the true PRODIGAL FATHER...forgave you...loves you...and is waiting for your return. 

Love and PRODIGAL Kisses
Rodney "MAKING MERRY" Boyd

THE /D/ FACTOR (D to Da G)

 Greetings O Ye Life Livers (and not the kind with onions)...how's your life?

The letter /D/ brings back some bad memories for me.  When I was in the 6th grade...I received my report card, expecting to be promoted to the 7th grade...but to my shock and surprise...I failed the 6th grade.  I had all D's...except for 4 F's.  I remember walking home...across the campus of Mitchell-Neilson Elementary School...crying while everyone was happy, joyous, and excited about passing and ready for the summer.  It turned out to be a good thing for me...as the next year I got all A's.  Hmmm...Romans 8:28 was working even back then...talk about Prevenient Grace.

 "Love is a corpse, we set and watch it harden, we left it SO LONG AGO THE GARDEN."
(Larry Norman from the song, Nightmare #71)

"We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught up in the devil's bargain, and we got to get our self, BACK TO THE GARDEN." (Joni Mitchell from the song Woodstock...also recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

Many moons (and suns) ago...there was a Garden (G)...planted by God and tended by man/wo-man, where there was intimacy with God, free from fear and strife.  Trouble entered into this paradise in the form of a serpent (aka the devil...with a little /d/) (Revelation 12:9; Genesis 3:1-5)...who tempted the caretakers of this Garden...away from who they really are...as a result of dis-obedience.  From that point on...mankind (including wo-mankind) have either been running away from or  trying to get back into that Garden state (and I don't mean New Jersey).

This garden experience was originally filled with (1) order (2) function (3) ease (4) encouragement
(5) obedience (6) comfort.  Once man/wo-man choose to listen to the d-eceiver...the d-evil and sinned,  the cause and effect of sin took over (Romans 5:12).  "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world...and death through sin, and death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12)

The cause and effect of this DIS-obedience...set into motion a thing called D-eath.  Death is not only the cessation of breathing and assuming room temperature...but also the entrance point for sin and sickness along with the resultant (1) dis-ease (2) dys-function (3) dis-order and the ultimate dis-....dis-connect from God.  We were now feeling and experiencing  the cause and effect of all of this within our total being...(1) spirit (2) soul (3) body (I Thessalonians 5:23)  You can't separate the three...and when one hurts or affected...all are hurt or affected. (Thanx and a Tip O Dat Hat to Dr. Peter Camiolo for getting me thinking about The /D/ Factor)

Mankind (and Wo-mankind)  have been trying everything they can to "Get Back to where they once belonged." (The Beatles Lennon/McCartney...Get Back).  We have been trying everything we can to restore ourselves...while doing everything we can to keep us in that state of dis-order because of sin.  We try everything from over medication, over hedonistic pleasures, over intellectualizing, over compensating, over exercising, over denying, only to make the problems worse...because we are not dealing with the ultimate root source of our problems...that got us there in the first place...SIN...brought about by DIS-obedience.

What to do...what to do.

REPENT...and not just REMORSE is the starting point.  Remorse is a sorrow...a sorrow that we (1) got caught in our sins (2) experiencing the cause and effect of our sins (3) that we have been exposed.  Now this surely may be part of the repentance process...but alone...it is not repentance.  True repentance is a change that brings a change in action.  It is a change of (1) mind (2) heart (3) attitude (4) direction (5) actions.  The cause and effect of repentance...sets us up for the solution that will get us "back to the Garden"...that we lost... "so long ago the garden"...which will get us from the "D to Da G"  We need a "refreshing" in the dry land of existence that we call living.

"So, REPENT--change your mind and purpose; turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that TIMES OF REFRESHING--or RECOVERING from the EFFECTS OF HEAT...of REVIVING with FRESH AIR--may come from the PRESENCE OF THE LORD." (Acts 3:19  The Amplified Bible)

Who can get us back to the Garden...who can restore what was lost so long ago the Garden?  Who can take down the giants in our lives that are against us?  Well...it will not be our effort...but it will be mercy...and...grace.  This unmerited favor and divine influence within...manifested in our lives.  This restoration from the dis-/dys- things in our lives...bringing us back from "original sin" to "original purpose" is through obedience.  It was lost in dis-obedience...and can only be bought back by obedience.

"For the wages of sin is d-eath, but the free gift of God is eternal life in CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD." (Romans 6:23)

"For the LOVE OF CHRIST controls us, having concluded this, that ONE DIED...for ALL...therefore ALL DIED...and He (Jesus) died for ALL, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who DIED and ROSE again ON THEIR BEHALF." (II Corinthians 5:14-15)

"For Christ also DIED FOR SINS... ONCE FOR ALL, the JUST for the unjust...IN ORDER...that He might BRING US TO GOD...having been put to death IN THE FLESH...but MADE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT." (I Peter 3:18)

"Surely he has borne our GRIEFS--SICKNESS, WEAKNESS and DISTRESS--and carried our SORROWS and PAIN [of punishment].  Yet we ignorantly considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God [as with leprosy].  But He was wounded/tormented for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities, the chastisement needful to obtain PEACE and WELL-BEING  for us was upon Him, and with the STRIPES (by His stripes)  that wounded Him we are HEALED and MADE WHOLE." (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Jesus came...and did it all.  He brought us back to God...where we fell "so long ago the garden".  The D Factor...has been made ineffective in our lives.  He...the d-evil (little d...never give him a capital d)...has been dealt with...and turned around the evil...and now it spells LIVE.  Now we get to lay back and enjoy life with no more cares or troubles...WRONG!!!!!

There is still a little d...with schemes to make our lives miserable...and also we have choices that we make everyday...that can recapture us....make us slaves AGAIN.  The will of God is FREEDOM...but we can give the little d an opportunity...by our choices. 

"It was for FREEDOM that CHRIST...SET US FREE...therefore...KEEP STANDING FIRM...and do not be SUBJECT AGAIN...to a YOKE OF SLAVERY." (Galatians 5:1)

"For you were CALLED TO FREEDOM, brethren (and sistern)...only do not turn your freedom into an OPPORTUNITY for the FLESH...but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)

"But I say WALK BY THE SPIRIT...and you will not carry out the DESIRES OF THE FLESH." (Galatians 5:17)

The bottom line is...you can be set free from DIS-ease...but if you return to your old ways...you can be trapped again.  If you are a diabetic...and eat all the wrong foods...and your blood sugar spikes...you can pray all day long...but you have made choices that will affect your effect.  You can be delivered from alcoholism...but that does not mean you can continue to drink like a fish pray for the Lord to neutralize the effect of the booze.  Your function...can turn back into DYS-function...your order can return to chaotic DIS-order...your ease can return to DIS-ease...even worse than before.

We are called to DIE (to our flesh/self) daily...(I Corinthians 15:31)  NOTE: Trouble with an increase in the dys- and dis- in our lives occurs when I die (to my flesh/self)...every week or so...or whenever I am in trouble.  Daily...means every day...seven days a week...365 days a year.

"Now to those who belong to Christ Jesus...have CRUCIFIED (died) the FLESH...with its passions and desires...if we LIVE by the SPIRIT...let us also WALK BY THE SPIRIT." (Galatians 5:24-25)

Don't sin...but if you do...get back in the light....confess your sins...repent...allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse you from all unrighteousness...keep his commandments and walk in His word...and accept the satisfactory substitute in your place...and quit sinning. (I John 1:8-10; I John 2:1-6)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY...NO REALLY...FINALLY

Wow...this one turned into a long one.  Be encouraged...and not DIS-couranged.

Love and Garden Kisses
Rodney "D-lighting Myself In The Lord" Boyd