SUNDAY , MAY 8
Scripture: Luke 15:11-13

The parable of the lost son states, ‘Then He said: ‘A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.“ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.’’’ There was a crooked place in the younger son and that was, he wanted everything spent on himself. He was full of himself. God had to bring him to the end of himself. Once God brought him to the end where he tasted the pain of his ways, transformation happened and he turned to walk back into the place of being true. But before that he wasted all his possessions. That is what he had in common with the unjust steward. The unjust steward never expressed repentance. There was no change of heart in him. There was no movement toward being true. There was great movement in the younger son toward being true. His actions expressed repentance first by returning home and second confessing his folly before his father. A third sign of repentance in the younger son was in humility as he asks for just enough to stay alive. Those three things show the difference and how God often restores us to a place of being true. The unjust servant never got there while the the prodigal son did. This is probably why they are placed together in the same Bible passage: the first sets the stage to understand the second.