"'Your brother has come,' he
replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back
safe and sound.' The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his
father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All
these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.'" (Luke
15:27,28 NIV)
His heart was definitively not in serving his Father,
was it? And he goes on . . .
"Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could
celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your
property . . ." (Luke 15:29 NIV)
And you can almost hear him say, "Which should be mine
soon!"
". . . With prostitutes comes home, you kill the
fattened calf for him!" (Luke 15: 30 NIV)
In other words, "How dare you!"
How would we have reacted if one of our siblings had
spent large amounts of money, taken from our parents, on frivolous living and
prostitutes? Don't we all, either directly or indirectly, experience similar
situations?
How would we feel seeing our parents downtrodden and
scared? (Interestingly, parents are generally not nearly as concerned about
their own life as about their wayward children!)
Imagine seeing this sibling suddenly show up, after
years of not hearing from him. How much more irritating this would be if our
parents welcome him with open arms, focusing all their attention on the one who
has hurt them so much. "Mom, dad, he swindled your money the first time! Don't
you realize he'll do it again?"
And imagine if we had made plans with our parents for
that same evening, plans that took us away from our busy schedules. And now our
plans have been thrown aside in favor of the one who shows only disdain towards
our parents! How infuriating!
Aren't we the ones who take care for our parents? And
now this errant sibling is the one who is heralded as the hero! Life is really
unfair! We have not been recognized for who we really are! No one sees that WE
are the ones who have been caring for our parents!
Wait a minute. Is it possible we may have some
self-interest in this deal?
It is clear in the story of the Prodigal son that the
motives of the older brother were
far from being pure. Is it possible that our motives aren't that pure either?
Are we, perhaps, too focused on controlling our parents? On shaping them into
doing exactly what we have planned for them? On controlling their finances,
their lives, and especially their bank account? After all, isn't our own
inheritance on the line here? This is most definitely what it seemed the older
brother expected, and now his plans were being destroyed right in front of his
eyes. And all thanks to this worthless sibling.
But wait. Was this sibling truly worthless?
He sure wasn't in the eyes of his father . . .
Haven't we also sinned? Haven't we lost our way to
Heaven? Are we truly that much better than this errant brother?
Yes we may not have squandered our parents' money, and
we may not have ended up in prison, but doesn't it say somewhere that "There is
no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who
seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is
no one who does good, not even one." (Rom 3:10-12 NIV)?
Maybe, just maybe it's time for us to step down off of
our beloved pedestal and let God be in charge. Maybe, just maybe it's time that
we start to love without any self-interest in the matter, just as Jesus did and
still does. Didn't He encourage us to:
1. "You, then, why do you judge your brother?" (Rom
14:10 NIV)
2. "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Col 3:13 NIV)
3. "As I have loved you, so you must love one
another." (John 13:34 NIV)
After all isn't he our flesh-and-blood brother? The
one who found total freedom by returning home?
Isn't unforgiveness a way of controlling those who
have hurt us? But in all honesty, it hurts us more! It's like an acid bath
gnawing through our intestines.
Speaking of acid unforgiveness, this year a mobster in
Italy had a hard time forgiving his girlfriend for, among many other things,
running away with their daughter! (In reality, it was the daughter who ran
away!) He found the solution to his problem. He shot his girlfriend dead. After
torturing her, naturally. And he then dissolved her body in 50 litres of acid in
a rural warehouse. And just to ensure that every part of her body was dissolved,
he posted gang members to watch this vat for 3 days.
It was simply the perfect crime. No evidence of this
crime could ever be found. Why forgive if we can dissolve the problem?
But in the end, he and his gang members were sentenced
for life in prison. What he hadn't anticipated was that his own daughter would
denounce
him.
Unforgiveness is truly acidic. It's true that it
affects everyone, but it mostly distresses the one who doesn't forgive.
Bitterness, as well as frustration for being out of control, are the only
results.
Forgiveness is within our control however, and with
it, inner peace, acceptance and happiness.
Isn't it time we throw away our vat of acidity?
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.