We must celebrate with a feast. For this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found. So the party began.
–Luke 15:23-24
This past weekend, our kids threw us a birthday party. We’re only six weeks apart in age and after nearly 36 years of marriage, we’ve celebrated many birthdays together. How many years? Let’s just say it was an important “decade birthday” for both of us and leave it at that. We were so blessed to gather with family and friends in the backyard to share laughs, stories, and lots of good food, enjoy the sounds of live smooth jazz, and of course, eat cake!
As I think about the evening, I’m reminded of another party. In the story of the prodigal son, the younger of two sons demanded his inheritance early, left home, and wasted his money on wild living. When the money ran out and he had to resort to eating with the pigs in order to survive, he returned home to his father to ask for forgiveness and offer his services as a hired hand. The father spotted his long lost son from a distance and, filled with love and compassion, ran out to greet him. In spite of all this son had done, the father celebrated his return by dressing him in fine clothing and throwing him a party. His father never condemned him and his identity as a son never changed.
Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is exactly the same. We don’t have to leave home and squander an inheritance on wild living to break fellowship with Him. We have plenty of opportunities every day to sin, fall short, and to react in offense to the mistakes of others. We can lose our patience with people and situations, harbor anger or bitterness, neglect our devotional time, and take matters into our own hands instead of taking them to God. We can let our flesh take over, and before we know it, we’re eating with the pigs (Romans 8:6). The good news is, while we may drift in and out of fellowship with God, His relationship with us never changes. His tender mercies start fresh every morning (Lamentations 3:23). We can never lose our identity as a child of God (Galatians 3:26). He always welcomes us back home with open arms of grace, whether we’ve been away for 10 years, 10 days or 10 minutes (Romans 8:14-16). The privilege of this sacred fellowship was bought and paid for by the blood of His Son (Hebrews 4:15-16). And each time we come back, there’s a celebration in heaven as He adds one more layer to our coat of righteousness. I think it’s time to party.