Luke 15:17-21 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (18) I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, (19) And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.(20) And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (21) And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
As good of an example as this young man is at rebelling against his father and family, he is equally as good of an example of the manner of repentance that all of us need to demonstrate to our loving and merciful God.
First what is repentance? My favorite definition is a change of MIND and HEART which will, by its nature, lead to a change of Life and direction. Don’t get me wrong, to repent does NOT mean that we have to fix our lives. Not at all. God is the fixer of our lives. However, it is the recognition that our lives NEED to be fixed and the attitude change that we want God to fix it and that we will accept the change that God sends our way. It is a willingness to give up our old life of sin to live a new, different kind of life that is now dedicated to living for God.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
While the word “repent” is not in these two verses, the concept and definiton is. Paul says that we are no longer to be molded and effected by this world. Instead we are to be change by the “RENEWING of our MINDS”....a change of mind that leads to a change of life. Where’s the change of life? Verse 1. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. No longer living for ourselves, but now living for God. Now let’s take this concept back to our parable.
Verse 17. He came to himself. There is that all important change of mind. So much so, look what he said to himself. He said, I am not worthy to be called his son. I am willing to take the status of servant, but that is far better than the disasterous life that sin had left him. Notice he didn’t just try to cover over his bad decisions and lifestyle with a half-hearted apology. He backed it up with the proper action. When he came to the father, he said exactly what he had practiced.
If we are going to truly repent of our old sinful past, we too must come to a realization that the path of sin is what got us into trouble. Therefore we must come to the decision that we are willing to abandon the life of sin and BECOME a servant of Jesus. That is all that we deserve. But when we have that proper attitude, God is not willing for us to stay a servant. He instead wants us to be his children.
1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Reflecting His SON,
Dennis Hogan
Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ
1804 Sam Stewart Dr.
Radcliff, KY 40160
Questions, comments or further explanation? Contact me at: dennis.hogan@icloud.com
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