Isn't it beautiful to watch a sunrise? There's a great big cotton tree that sits west of my window where I do my early morning Bible study and prayer time with the Lord. I often get up before the sun hits that big tree, and so, for the time being, it remains in the shade of of early dawn. But as the morning sun rises, that tree slowly becomes illuminated. First, part of it is illuminated and part of it is still in the shade. The contrast between how the two halves look is so stark. The part that is illuminated looks almost a different color than the half that remains in the shade. That makes me ask, "which is the true color? The part that has the sun shining on it, or the part that remains in the shade." I then come to the conclusion that it has to be the part that is in the light because light brings out truth. The true color of that tree was hidden by the dark and shade, but the light shows its true color.
This reminds me of the spiritual truth found in the story of the prodigal son. In the story, the son willingly chooses to go live his life outside of his father's home and provision. He willingly chooses to live in the darkness. He spends all his money on worldly living. When he comes to his senses he returns to his father. Here's the passage in scripture:
A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me." So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." And they began to be merry. Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf." But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I mighty make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him." And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found."
Like the prodigal son, we leave the Father to live in the world and participate in it's darkness. The Bible says that sin has pleasure for a season. In God's mercy, He sent a famine. Had there not been a famine, this son may not have ceased his lifestyle or come to his senses. When we are living in the world we seem to have an identity crisis. We begin to identify with our worldly lifestyle. Before we submit to Jesus and really make Him Lord, we think we know who we are, but as we begin to see our great need for God and the famine in our spirit, we come to our senses and come home to the Father to find who we really are. Before, we identify with the things of the world. We can get so wrapped up in the world that we think we are being who we are supposed to be. "Just be who you wanna be" whispers the world...and so we go out, live prodigally, and then find ourselves in the pigpen willing to eat pig food. When we decide to come home to the Father we come to who we really are. Before we are like fish trying to live outside of water. I once spoke to an alcoholic who was defending his alcoholism and he said, "well, this is just who I am." He had believed the lie that his identity was in the pigpen. But once we come home to the Father we begin to realize who we really are. Notice how the son returned with humility and sorrow for his sin. He recognized how he didn't even deserve to be his son. This is how we are to come to the Lord. James talks about the state one must pass through before we are lifted up. In James 4:9-10 he says, "Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." This here is the inner workings of a genuinely repentant heart. These are the ones the Lord lifts up. The prodigal son demonstrated these humble traits.
God is light (1John 1:5) and when we return to Him, He illuminates us to reveal the truth of who we are and who He made us to be.
We, like the big cotton tree outside my window are brought into the glorious light which reveals the truth of who we really are. When we contrast our life in Christ with that time when we lived in the world it is stark. Are you still in the shadow of darkness? Are you living in the world? Return to the Father, leave that behind because that's not who you are. You WILL discover who you are when you truly come to the Father.
(Read the next blog to see the perspective of the older brother)