One of my favorite parables in the Bible is that of the prodigal son.

Jesus tells this parable of a son that believed he could do it all on his own, asked for his inheritance and left home. As he is living on his own, he waste and squanders everything. He eventually ends up working for a man in the fields feeding his pigs. The son is so hungry that he longs for the food the pigs were eating.

I don’t know about you, but that really seems like a rock bottom moment. When you have absolutely nothing and would desire to eat what the pigs have.

When this son had asked his father for his part of the inheritance, he was basically saying that he wished he were dead. That would have been the time when he would have naturally received his portion of the inheritance.

Based upon that, you would probably imagine that the father would have nothing to do with this son and be done with him.

Luke 15:17-20 says this about the son when he is longing to eat the food the pigs eat, “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.”

Now, you may either feel compassionate and sorry for this son or possibly believe that he got what he deserved for the way he acted.

What if you found yourself in his place? Would you hope for the father to receive you back, even if only as a hired servant?

Luke 15:20b “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.”

The father was waiting for his son to come home!

You are either where the son was with the pigs (separated from the Father) or you have returned home and are wrapped in the Father’s arms (reconciled with God our Heavenly Father, through Jesus).

The great thing is, when we wander, our heavenly Father is eagerly waiting with His arms wide open for us to return home! With God, there is always a way back home.