The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 27 February 2020 – TOPIC: A BROTHER TO THE PRODIGAL SON

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DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020
TOPIC: A BROTHER TO THE PRODIGAL SON
READ: LUKE 15: 25-32 (NKJV)

25. “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26. “So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
27. “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.’
28. “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.
29. “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 might make merry with my friends.
30. ‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31. “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
32. ‘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.’ “

THE MESSAGE:

In today’s lesson, we see the reaction of the elder brother of the prodigal son. He had been a wonderful son, serving their father faithfully without transgressing in anyway. Hearing the sound of music and dancing as he returned from where he had been toiling in the field, he became angry, to the extent that he would not go inside the house. It took the father’s loving plea to help him to understand.

As this son was angry, so were the Pharisees with Christ for receiving sinners. So, too, the eminently respectable self-righteous in the Church often are, when sinners, the despised and outcast, are converted. As his father pleaded with him, God in Christ still entreats all such to join in the welcome of the repentant. He laid hold on the fact that he never transgressed, portraying a self-righteous spirit. His charges also show that while living with his father, he was far away from him in spirit. The father pleaded with him, trying to bring him to a better frame of mind, as Christ pleads with Israel. From the beginning, all the estate belonged to him, yet he was not aware of it. The father affirmed that all he had belonged to him. “And if children, then heirs -heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ …” (Romans 8:17). Are you like this envious son?

PRAYER: Father, teach me not to be envious, and help me to realise my place in Your House. Amen.