Book: Psalms

Much has been said about the parable of the prodigal son, but the end of so many who teach this passage is to read themselves into the text and ask “which son are you?” While there is nothing inherently bad about this type of reading, the point of the passage goes much deeper than that. The Rector explains how this parable challenges us to be better ambassadors for Christ.

We are assaulted every day by anxieties about our own lives and everything going on in the world. In Psalm 46, the LORD tells the Psalmist, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In these words we can find great comfort, but we must first be willing to be still. We can take confidence knowing that God is in control as the great I AM.

Anyone can believe IN God, certainly a god of our own creation – we really enjoy doing that. What we fail at is BELIEVING God, that is, putting our faith in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, and not trusting our own works. When we trust in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us by faith. Listen as the Rector discusses God’s covenant with Abraham, and how God’s faithfulness requires that we not only believe in Him, but believe and trust Him fully.

We are assaulted by many temptations in our culture of ease and wealth to not really care about issues elsewhere in the world – we aren’t moved to the point where we might actually do something about it. We justify turning a blind eye to evil. What is the solution to this problem? We should observe the disciplines to which we are called in a holy Lent.

When we give our attention to worthless things, we are robbing God of that same attention. Not that God needs our attention, but that we abandon His ways, and we allow our relationship with Him to wither. We give our attention to that which we value most at that moment in time. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We spend so much of our lives self-focused, but almost none of that time self-aware. We convince ourselves of lies about how we want people to see us, but we never confront the reality of who we really are in our sinful state. The Transfiguration of Christ gives us the perspective of God’s holiness, our depravity before Him, and our need for Jesus’s saving grace. When we fall prostrate before the Lord, we gain true perspective on how messed up we really are.

Beloved, we have been living in a spiritual drought in America for a long time. We need to seek out the right type of water to nourish us in times of drought, but as Jeremiah tells us, the heart is deceitful and desperately sick. Only God searches the heart and tests the mind, and only by trusting in him will our souls be refreshed.

How often do Christians share the Gospel? How often do we share it with our spouses, significant others, children, parents, friends, or coworkers? Sadly, not nearly enough. If the Church does not preach the Gospel, people will not believe, or they will believe the wrong thing. The Church cannot preach the Gospel enough. So why are we so afraid to share the Gospel?

Beloved, we cannot afford to excuse ourselves from the work of ministry. We cannot rely on others to speak the truth while we coast through life. God has anointed each and every one of us with the responsibility to serve Him and share the Gospel. When we excuse ourselves of that responsibility, we are being disobedient, and we harm not only ourselves but the next generation as well – because we are robbing them of an opportunity to hear God’s Word.