God is nothing if not prodigal towards us – Tim Keller
About two months ago, I wrote a series on the parable of the Prodigal Son, inspired by Tim Keller’s book The Prodigal God. The response was overwhelming, and since there’s still so much more to discover in this parable, I thought—it’s time for part two!
If you missed the first part, you can still find it on our website. Just scroll back to September.
And if you’d like a refresher of the parable itself, you can read it in Luke 15:11-32 .
The word prodigal, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means:
- Characterised by profuse or wasteful expenditure: lavish
- Recklessly spendthrift.
In the story, it’s obvious why the younger son is called prodigal–he carelessly wasted his entire inheritance on wild living (verse 13).
But the father is not very careful either. Without thinking twice and even before his son could make any kind of amends, he restored him to full sonship. That meant the boy was once again entitled to an inheritance, even though he had squandered the first.
How did the father know his son wouldn’t pull the same stunt? He didn’t. He just chose to trust him and restore him into a loving father-son relationship.
That’s why Tim Keller titled his book ‘The Prodigal God’. The grace extended by the father, who represents our Heavenly Father, is far more “reckless” than the spendthrift of his son.
Keller writes:
“The father’s welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, because he refused to 'reckon' or count his sin against him or demand repayment. This response offended the elder son and most likely the community.”
God is not in the business of punishing you or making you pay. He wants to reconcile Himself with you, no matter how badly you’ve messed up.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. – 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Would you like to be reconciled with your Heavenly Father today? Do what the younger son did: return to your Father and simply say, “Here I am. I’d like to come back.”
