DIG DEEP
Excavating the Depths of God and His Glorious Riches
August 12th, 2022
SPIRITUAL SON, not PRODIGAL POVERTY
Matthew 6:21, ‘”For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”’ (NIV)
We are learning that there is vast spiritual wealth available to each one of us who call ourselves Christians, who consider ourselves children of God. It is buried just under the surface of the Christian life, waiting to be discovered and drawn out. This month we are headed on a dig, so we can explore, excavate and extract the glorious riches God has for His children.
Just a few days ago, my feet and my heart wrestled all the way down that dusty road. I rehearsed my speech until it was as if I was reading it from a paper; I had it so memorized. Mile after mile, trudge after trudge. I’d been such an idiot. My father hadn’t deserved the stunt I pulled. The truth was, it dawned on me as I walked those thousand miles back home, I was sick to death of me. I was who I wanted to escape. We can never get away from oneself though, can we? I thought it my father, my brother, the work, the land, even the animals. It was me, all me, I was trying to get rid of. I thought if I got far enough away of everyone and everything I knew, I could be carefree and happy. But I could only run so far from myself.
The callouses on my feet now match the callouses on my heart. It’s an ugly world out there, a dog-eat-dog one. Then you’re the dog being eaten. My tail has been between my legs since. That wild party, the one I provided for everyone, showed me true colors. I didn’t like anyone I lavished with a good time, but most of all I did not like myself. I came worldly rich and spiritually dead, and as I tripped those last few miles toward my father’s home, I realized I was worldly bankrupt, but spiritually, I had become a billionaire. Maybe beyond. I’d have to learn once I returned to my father’s home, if he’d take me back and if I would use my lessons for good and glory, not for myself but for others, I’d truly be a billionaire, not by the world’s standards, but by His.
I hadn’t expected him to come running to me. That’s when I fell to my knees and wept, really wept. My father kissed me like a long-lost friend, all over my face, til my face shone with pride and embarrassment. He shed his robe and wrapped it around my shoulders and placed his sandals upon my bare feet as he led the way home over the rocks and thistles, his feet taking the beating mine deserved. I must have looked a mess, but he chided me forward, beckoning me to the table where he held out a chair for me. This isn’t how I pictured this going—I mean, my father has always been an amazing man, but I expected chastisement and it to take a while to earn back his good grace and his trust. Instead, it flowed from him like a bountiful stream, his love burbling and joyful for my return.
He sat me at the head of the table, where he normally is seated, and the family insignia ring marking the spot. With one tap at the parchment, I glanced, and I gasped, and I read, “Last Will & Testament”.
‘But, Father,’ I protest, ‘I already received my inheritance, remember? Rather, I demanded it of you. I will be relieved just to be your servant and live close to you in your house and serve you.’
Vehemently, he shook his head. “I own the cattle on a thousand hillsides. What is mine is yours. You are my son in whom I am well pleased. Put on your garment of praise and wear love. Welcome home.”
Luke 15:20b, ‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; He ran to his son, threw His arms around him and kissed him.’ (NIV)
2 Corinthians 2:10b: ‘The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God had planned all along.’ (MSG)
