Passage Read: Luke 15-16
Meditation Verses: 15:28-32
Thought
The father pleaded with the "good" son, but there's no record of him pleading with the "bad" son before he left. That doesn't mean he didn't, but that there's no record. He may have had many talks with the younger son, but found that son unmovable. So the only thing he could do was grant his desire and let him go. He wouldn't listen to reason or wisdom, so he would have to learn things the hard way. That didn't mean he didn't love that son, but that the only way to truly love him was to let him experience the harsh realities of sinful living. Perhaps then he would recognize his folly and repent. And he did. But the older son was the one who seemed to be wise and understanding, yet there was a gap. He seemed teachable, so the father pleaded with him, only to find him unyielding. Both sons stubbornly insisted on their own views; both were wrong. But by the end of the story, the "bad" son was redeemed, and the "good" son was lost to his own arrogance and judgment.
Application
It is right to plead with those who are on a path to sin, to try to save them from the folly before them. But that doesn't mean I'll win them to the truth. The hard truth is that those who are bent on experiencing the world seem to have more hope for coming to their senses than those who think they're in the right by their own wisdom rather than by the teaching of their spiritual authority. The self-righteous appear to be harder to win than the unrighteous. Pleading with them to try to gain their understanding is good, but I still may have to let them go their way and suffer what God graciously has in store for them, in order to win them back.