The Lost Sons

Luke 15:11-32

I have two brothers, and I have two sons. Both sets of brothers share similar personalities, among other things, and quite often I’m taken aback by the sameness of it all! 

The older brothers are more flexible, the younger brothers more rigid. The older brothers are more relaxed, the younger brothers more passionate. The older brothers are rule followers, and the younger brothers do things their own way, please and thanks.

One thing they all share is keeping track of how the other brother is treated vs. how they themselves are treated. In each pair, older brother keeps a list of all the ways younger brother is allowed to break the rules, and younger brother keeps a list of all the undeserved privileges bestowed on older brother. 

It’s death by tally marks!

The brothers in Luke 15 kept track, too. The younger brother ran off to squander his inheritance, and when he returned received a welcome no one expected: embraced by his father, cleaned up, re-clothed and re-included back into his family. As a result, the dutiful older brother felt cheated, and as an oldest sibling myself, I can relate to the righteous indignation felt here. No one has ever thrown me a party for being a responsible rule follower! :) 

On the flip side the younger brother didn’t feel worthy to come home because of what he’d done. He knew older brother had been working hard at the family business while he’d been out making poor choices, and he wondered if his father would welcome him back at all. I can relate to this, too! We’ve all made choices we’re ashamed of and that have made it hard to come home.

The beauty of this story is that the tally marks each brother had kept against themselves and each other didn’t matter; neither brother was rewarded or punished for his actions. They were both sought out by their father merely because they were his sons, and they were lavished with everything their father had to offer just because they were his. 

The beauty of our story is that our tally marks don't determine our worth in the eyes of the Father, either. We’re sought after merely because we are His!

Is there anyone against whom you keep tally marks? Perhaps yourself? Here’s a reminder that our performance in life has never and will never determine our worth when it comes to God. Step one to Inner Strength: Building a Resilient Core is to tear up your tally sheets!