July 12, 2013 … Independence Leading to Sin

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 193

Passage of the Day #1: Luke 15: 20 [in verses 20-21] [NLT] …  
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. …”
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 Contextual Study involving today’s passage found in Luke, Chapter 15 … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage of the Day #1: Proverbs 16: 18 [Doing life on our own will only lead to a fall.] … 18 Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

Reference Passage of the Day #2: John 10: 10b [God’s promise of prodigal living!] …  
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Reference Passage of the Day #3: Luke 9: 23 [How many times do we need to hear this from God’s own word?] …  
23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow Me. …”

Devotional Song: Go to this link   … Today, once again this month, please hear the Maranatha Singers singing, “Jesus, You Are My Life” challenging all who claim to be in Christ to give all to Him our all and not try to do life on our own. God, the Father, in the Person of Christ, is the “pearl of greatest price!”

My Journal for Today: You know the story, … Jesus’ parable of the “prodigal” father and son tell us much about our default tendency to independent living and God’s promise of the abundant life. “Prodigal,” according to Webster’s dictionary, means “extravagance in living.” And we often refer to the parable told about the “prodigal son,” who went off and blew his inheritance on extravagant, excessive, and sinfull living. But we need to also recognize that the son came back to a “prodigal” Father, who wanted only to lavish His extravagant love on His child. And we also need to recognize from this story, and from the truth of Jesus’ story in John 10: 10, that we worship a “prodigal” Father in heaven who desires only to give us His best, His extravagant life, … living with Him forever.

However, all too often, we, like the “prodigal” son, desire to do life on our own; and we run off, ahead of God, trying to live pridefully and independently, on our own. Oh, if we’d only listen to and follow the wisdom of Solomon from Proverbs 16: 18 (above), which tells us that pride so often goes before a fall. And again, there are those echoing words of Jesus, Himself, which I so often end up quoting in my devotional entries from Luke 9: 23, where the Lord exhorts His disciples to deny ourselves and follow Him.

Jesus, in that last passage and in John 10: 10, is not trying to be a cosmic kill-joy. No, like the “prodigal” Father of Luke 15, The Lord wants us to have the ABUNDANT LIFE; and just as in the parable about the “prodigal son,” God, our Heavenly Father, will run to us when we return in repentance from any independent and extravagant selfishness; and He will do what His word promises (see 1st John 1: 9). He will clean us up; and as He promises in John 10: 10, He will lavish His “prodigal” love and eternal life upon us.

My friend, please take the time to use the link above and go hear the Maranatha Singers singing their version of Jesus, You Are My Life, … because my dear one, only running to and surrendering to the “pearl of greatest price,” … Jesus, … and repenting from “prodigal” and selfish living, can we find the abundant life which God, our Father, promises us.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I run to You! … Amen