And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. (Luk 15:11-24)
Instead of clothing himself with Christ the prodigal son clothed himself with the world. He left his father and his father’s covering by going to a far country. This far country was very different from the place that his father had prepared for him. It was full of sin, shame, and death. In this foreign land he lived a worldly life, a life where the lusts of his flesh could be gratified. The “riotous living” that he took part in probably included things like:
- Reckless spending of his inheritance
- Fornicating
- Cursing
- Gluttony
- Drunkenness
- Being immodest
- Telling and laughing at off-colored jokes
The Scripture gives us an idea of what he might have been doing when they tell us what the works of the flesh are. In Galatians we read:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
So what made the prodigal son realize that this way of life, the way of life that he had probably dreamed of while still with his father, what made him realize that this way of life wasn’t working?
The day came when he met with suffering and loss. Sometimes suffering and loss can bring us much closer to the truth than complacency or satisfying our lusts can bring us.
He suffered destitution spending “everything.” His…
- Money
- Property
- Talents
- Opportunities
- Thoughts
Everything that he had was misused to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. That’s what the world, the country that is foreign to our God’s heavenly kingdom, teaches us to do, but God tells us:
…to present our body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God….Not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind… (Rom 12:1-2)
When we seek to satisfy ourselves outside of God’s design we end up destitute and frustrated, not satisfied at all.
Do we pattern ourselves after the prodigal son in this way? What do we spend everything that we are and have on? We may not spend “everything” on satisfying our lusts, but do we spend “anything” on it? We are called by God to be 100% sold out for His purposes and not to spend anything that we have or are on the lusts of our flesh, which work against God. The Scriptures tell us that the desires of the Spirit and those of the flesh are actually opposed to each other. In Galatians we read:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Gal 5:16-17)
So when we see that in our lives we have areas where we are walking in a way to gratify our fleshly desires, what do we do? Well, as the prodigal son did when he realized that the world’s way just didn’t work, so must we do. He realized his sin and went back to his father in repentance.
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