[Dailydevo] Daily Devotion Tuesday March 28, 2006

[Barry Ludwig]

Daily Devotions Tuesday  March 28, 2006

The Daily Devotions are this week are written by Pastor Barry Ludwig. During
the season of Lent, the theme of Zion's Wednesday services (5 & 7pm) is
based upon our congregational set of values. Those values flow from the
person and name of Jesus (Justice, Energy to witness, Spiritual maturity,
Understanding the radical nature of Grace, Service to those in need). This
week we explore the radical nature of Grace.

 

Thought

God's "Grace" is perhaps the most confounding of all the teachings of
Christianity. One of our values at Zion is that we understand the radical
nature of this thing called grace and its implications for our life. The
place we must begin is Jesus' parable of the "Prodigal Son." Please  read
that parable through slowly and thoughtfully.

 

 Luke  15:11-32  (The Message paraphrase)

     Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said
to his father, "Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

    "So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before
the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There,
undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone
through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and
he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his
fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs
in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

    "That brought him to his senses. He said, "All those farmhands working
for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to
death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, 

   Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve
to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went
home to his father.

    "When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart
pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his
speech: "Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't
deserve to be called your son ever again.'

    "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants,
"Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on
his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast
it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is
here--given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And
they began to have a wonderful time.

    "All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work
was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and
dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He
told him, "Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a
feast--barbecued beef!-because he has him home safe and sound.'

    "The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in.
His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The
son said, "Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving
you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my
friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores
shows up and you go all out with a feast!'

    "His father said, "Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the
time, and everything that is mine is yours-- but this is a wonderful time,
and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He
was lost, and he's found!'"

 

 

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