JANUARY 9 - The Prodigal's Brother

JANUARY 9 - The Prodigal’s Brother

 

“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” — LUKE 15:31

 

Read the story of the prodigal son, and you get the idea that hardship never seemed to touch the life of the older brother.

 

After the prodigal headed for “Hollywood,” the older son kept faithfully managing the father’s farm and paying the bills. He kept his nose clean and never suffered consequences of disobedience. Then one day, when his younger brother showed up, the father went crazy with excitement. Steaks on the barbecue. Crepe paper strung on the tent posts. “Welcome home” banners over the doorway. It wasn’t the cost of confetti and fatted calves that irked the older brother; it was the gushing favor his father showered on his sibling.

 

Just when the older brother thought he was missing out, he heard these words of tender reassurance: “My son,” the father said, “you are always with me and everything I have is yours.” The prodigal son only had a portion of the inheritance. The older son possessed everything. He simply forgot that.

 

This is an important lesson for those whose lives have not been touched or scarred by deep suffering. Christians who do not regularly taste pain and hardship must live more circumspectly and carefully. Without suffering, one could become like the prodigal’s older brother who, in his trouble-free circumstances, forgot how much he had. But God has blessed every believer “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). God has nothing more beyond Christ to give those who suffer . . . or those who do not.

 

Father, thank you for giving me all things in Christ. If my days are blessed with ease and comfort, help me not to forget the rich and many spiritual blessings you have bestowed upon me. Help me to desperately and urgently cleave to you, even when my circumstances are pleasant. May I never forget what I have. May I always be grateful.