Arise!

​You can tell a new year has begun by the lack of parking spaces at your local gym.  Health and fitness usually tops the list of New Year’s resolutions and statistics tell us that half of those people will not succeed.  Perhaps resolutions are not what you need; maybe you need a New Year’s revolution. In Luke chapter 15 there is the parable of the Prodigal Son.  A man who grew tired of the comfort and safety his father’s house provided decided to take his inheritance early and venture off into the world.  For a time, he asked himself why he hadn’t done this sooner.  In Luke chapter 15 there is the parable of the Prodigal Son.  

This new life of constant pleasure and excitement was certainly favored over the monotony of daily life at home.  In time however, as with all things, the novelty wore off and he had nothing left of his inheritance. Pride and shame were his new best friends and he soon found himself eating out of the same trough as the pigs he was employed to feed. How could he go home to a father he had disappointed so immensely?  Hunger is a powerful motivator, and soon no amount of pride or shame could keep him from at least trying.  He thought…

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. (Luke 15: 18-19)

They at least had plenty of food to eat.  To his amazement, as he approached his father’s house, he could see a man running towards him.  Feeling unworthy to be called a son any longer, he could not comprehend how his father could give him such a warm homecoming.  There was a feast and a party for son who was lost and now had been found.
If you can identify with the lost son and have taken your spiritual inheritance into the world only to waste it with riotous living, if you are tired of eating the spiritual pig slop the world has to offer, and if you feel too much pride or shame to think you could ever come home, make 2017 the year that you arise!  The Lord loves you as much today as he did the day he died for you.  Your shame is self-inflicted and the opportunity to return home is present every moment.  He is watching and waiting for you to return.

Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10)
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Make 2017 a year of spiritual revolution. Arise!