Making a Come Back

There's a good thing about hitting rock bottom.  It forces you to make a choice.  Stay and die, or get up and climb.  When you hear about "Making a Come Back", it is generally about a sports team that was down by a seemingly insurmountable number of points. Your back is to the wall and it's time to make a decision to either throw in the towel, or commit to going all out and fighting for the win.  Cue the story of the Prodigal Son.

Or, call it The Story of Us.  

We start off with great intentions.  Freedom, Fun, Fantasy!  The promise of adventure and good times! We get so caught up on our own wants, we forget about everything else...  

This story resonates throughout scripture.  How about the very first story about people.  Adam and Eve were in perfect harmony and relationship with God.  They walked and talked with their Father on a consistent basis. Then they believed a snake and literally all hell broke loose on us.  Lost their home, their freedom, their longevity, their innocence, and worst, their relationship with their Father.  

The Israelites have a story that reads like a novel written on a rolodex.  It just keeps going around and around and is the same every time.  They were given a land that was very lush and beautiful.  When they followed God, He fed them, took care of their needs, protected them, and they won every battle.  When they didn't have God and followed their own desires, they lost it all to various raiders and nations.  He had to constantly send someone to rescue them.  Einstein's definition of insanity is a great description here.  

Or from the old Disney cartoons.  When Pinocchio meets up with Lampwick, his mind gets filled with the idea that his current life isn't enough. He should be having more fun!  He's being oppressed!  What you have isn't good enough!  Go somewhere where anything goes!  But, what happens in the end? They literally became jackasses.  (Walt Disney's words, not mine) Their life of fun and leisure came with a price they weren't expecting to have to pay.

The Prodigal Son is a great example of us.  We have a choice to make.  When he had hit rock bottom and had nothing to live for, he made a choice, to come back.  He came back to his father.  He was willing to come back in whatever capacity his dad would accept him.  He was bone tired, starving, and weary of doing it his way.  As most all of us have learned in one way or another, our way doesn't work. Life isn't Burger King.  If we are very domineering and don't listen, we can expect very messy relationships.  If we "jump off the bridge" (yup, the same one our parents always warned us about), then we can expect to get hurt.  But, we will have done it our way.  A parallel to the Prodigal son with our life. We do things 100% our way and eventually, we will be very much alone.  

Our stories would be depressing and awful if that's where they ended.  In a pig sty, wasting away with no hope and no future.  One of the powerful things in the story is the son's choice.  He decides to come back home.  

He turns his life around by choice. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. He knew he would have to face his father.  He rehearsed his speech the whole way home in shame, but he knew what he had to do to get away from where he was. Ephesians 2:1-7 shows us this.  We make a come back and God is waiting on us.  In the story, the father is looking and waiting constantly for his son to return. He doesn't run after him, nor does he send spies to check when he messes up.  He waits for him to make the choice to come back.  And when he does, what does the story say?  He RAN! Gathered his robes up and took off as fast as his old feet would carry him!  Didn't want to hear explanations, didn't want anything but to hold his son who he thought was dead. He didn't care about his son's past sin and separation, He cared about his son.

So, what's the moral of the story?  It's up to you to fight for the come back!  There is hope for a win!  There is happy endings to the worst of stories!  Dad is waiting!  Scanning the horizon for any sign that He needs to get on His track shoes and take off down the dusty road toward you! We are the lost son and it's past time to get found. He cares about you and wants you no matter where you are in your life or sin right now.  Dad's Love is waiting!