The Prodigal Son and Foster Children

A while ago our Bible story for the night was on the Prodigal Son. Lisa was reading the story, which gave me time to reflect on the interesting nature of teaching the story of the Prodigal Son to a foster child. What about the child who wants to go back to his father but can’t? How do they hear the story? The story is about a loving father who gladly welcomes his child when he comes back to his father’s house. Not everyone is so lucky to have a father like that.

Reading the story tonight reminded me of two things. First, I am grateful that I have a father that loves me like my Father does (I am grateful that I have a mother who loves me in that same way too- Hi mom!). What a blessing to see God’s love expressed in human form. Not everyone is so fortunate. It must be so much easier for a child with a loving father to understand the Father’s love. I hope I never take that advantage for granted.

Second, I am grateful that everyone has a Father like the father in the story. Maybe some will have a harder time understanding that kind of love, but God’s love for them is no less real, and no less available. I pray that our little one will see in me His Father’s love for him. But more than anything I pray that he will run into the arms of his Father.

Leave your reputation behind, and follow me

A buddy recently sent me a quote from Thom Rainer, “Churches don’t change until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” That quote resonated with me, not just as it relates to our church, but also as it relates to my life. There are aspects of my life I seem unwilling to change until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing.

I suppose we all enter into new situations with a bit of naiveté. When I began as pastor of our church, I knew the job was supposed to be hard. It’s one thing to know in theory that a job might be hard, but it’s another thing altogether to do hard things when the time comes. Deep down we are fooled into thinking that things won’t be that hard for us. Why do we think this? Because we think we are special or specially favored by God? I don’t know, but I think we tend to expect things to be easy, when Scripture suggests the exact opposite will be true.

One of the hardest areas for me is my reputation. I like for people to like me. I grew up as the shy kid in the corner who didn’t say enough to get anybody upset, and I generally stayed out of the limelight enough to keep people from being mad at me. That’s a lot harder to do as pastor of a church. Jesus’ words have been echoing in my mind recently, “Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their ancestors did the same thing to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). In other words, everyone liking what you do is not necessarily a good sign. I’m not sure that I’ve been prepared to live these words, but I hope I’m getting there. It’s part of what following Jesus looks like, leaving our concern over reputation behind and following him.

Another phrase that has been rattling around in my mind is, “Do hard things.” This is the title of a book I ran across a while back (full disclosure: I haven’t actually read the book), and I think it sums up where our church is and where I am right now. Changing and growing for us as a church and for me as a leader will mean doing hard things. As Rainer warns, change is painful, but sometimes staying the same is much more painful in the long run. Whatever is in store for us won’t be easy, and things will probably get worse before they get better, but Scripture gives us the hope that it will be worth it in the end.

I really want my life to be easy; I really do. And that’s part of the problem. Life isn’t easy. We expect the Christian life to be easy, but it’s far from it. When we follow Jesus, we open ourselves up to loss, rejection, ridicule, pain, and confrontation. But these are all things Jesus endured for us. And they are all things we must be prepared for if we want to follow Him. It’s easy for me to say that “those people” don’t want to change, or “they” are unwillingly to do what it takes, but until I’m willing to do the hard things, like leaving my concern over my reputation behind, then I’m not ready to follow the path my Savior walked.