Luke 15:11-13 And he said, A certain man had two sons: (12) And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. (13) And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
In chapter 15 of Luke, Jesus teaches 3 separate parables about the love, mercy, and God’s desire to save man. The parable of the Prodigal Son is the last and most comprehensive of the three. In fact, there is so much to this parable, we will divide the parable into 4 separate lessons for the purpose of the daily devotionals.
In today’s text, we find that the younger of two sons gets a wild hair to be out on his own. Like, most young people, he did not have the where-withal to be able to fund that excursion, so he went to his father requesting his inheritance now so that he could leave. Not wanting to control his son, the father gave him his portion of inheritance. After receiving the money, the young man packed his stuff and traveled to a far away country. In the last part of verse 13 it tells us that the young man wasted that inheritance with riotous living.
I cannot imagine the arrogance of this son. For those that know me, I joke with my family about my parent’s inheritance. If I go and help my parents with a project, I remind them to keep that assistance in mind when making their will. I further emphasize that it was me that did that and NOT any of my siblings. It’s only a joke. My parents understand it as jesting and my brothers and sisters understand it to be so as well. On the other hand, the young man in this story was NOT joking. He went to the father and said give me my inheritance. Essentially, he was telling his father, I care more about your money than I do for you. He might has well said: "Dad, I cannot wait for you to die, give me your stuff". He also was sending the strong message that he cared more for pleasing his own selfish desires than he cares for his father. Now that’s arrogance.
While we shake our heads that this man’s selfishness, we all are guilty of the same thing at some point in time of our lives. When we choose to sin, we have done the same thing that this young has. We have looked at the commandment of God and said, no I don’t think so. I would rather.... And then we have done it. We have put our desires above the wishes of God.
Not only that, sin is usually arrogant from our relationship with others. Most sin negatively effects others, regardless of how we justify it. For instance, stealing is certainly a demonstration of arrogance over others. You are essentially saying: "My need for your stuff is more important so I am going to take it". All sin is arrogance. All sin is a choice to serve self over serving God and anyone else!
Reflecting His SON,
Dennis Hogan
Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ
1804 Sam Stewart Dr.
Radcliff, KY 40160
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