“Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
“‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
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The older brother stayed near the father physically, but far from him in heart. Where do resentment, self-righteousness, or cold obedience still need to be reconciled in you?
Are you living more like a servant trying to earn favor than a son welcomed by grace? What would it look like to be reconciled again to God’s joy, and perhaps to another person you have held at a distance?
If resentment rises in you today, do not baptize it as righteousness. Bring it into the light. Pray: Father, save me from the coldness of the older brother. Teach me to receive mercy and to rejoice when mercy is given.
Pray for freedom from resentment and self-righteousness, and for a heart that can receive and extend mercy.
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