Everyone is searching for happiness but in this “me” driven world, we have been duped into thinking that the way to be satisfied is to look into our heart for what we want and then go get it or expect someone else to give it to us.  This is essentially how a two year old views the world and when a toddler doesn’t get what he wants or it doesn’t satisfy him, he has temper tantrum.  And this is the annoying whining noise that you are hearing in the world today but it is not coming from children, it is coming from adults who are pitching a fit and acting like children as they pursue their self indulgent nature (sin).  

Somehow we have bought into the lie that the “good life” is found in striving to get what we want and becoming the master of our destiny or playing the victim of life and thinking we are “entitled” to the good life but in fact a life that is good in God’s eyes is one that first understands they are a “beggar” in this world in need of God’s goodness and grace in order to be made good and then shown what is good to do.  A beggar does not own anything and does not presume that he deserves anything but he is constantly dependent on the grace of the “giver” to supply his needs.  The beggar is motivated by an attitude of gratitude to thank the giver and serve the giver in order to repay the giver for his kindness, especially if the giver takes the beggar into His house to care for him.  It is a thankful “beggar” mentality in Christ that satisfies a person in this world not an selfish “it’s mine” attitude of a two year old.

This is really the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32 and that is why I think the story of the return of prodigal son is the most most beautify and profound story of the Bible.  In just few verses, this story that Jesus told his disciples explains the entire message of the Bible.  The story describes the passionate love that our heavenly Father has towards us, i.e “grace”.  God is always looking for one of the prodigal child to realize his Spiritually bankrupt condition of sin and repent and come to God, to enjoy a personal loving relationship with Him.  God is the ultimate giving Father with an abundant supply of grace and love that never runs out.  In Christian terms the prodigal son, is the Spiritual beggar who chooses to come to God to receive His grace.  The beggar is saved from his sin, born again, with a new life in Christ Jesus.  And God rejoices because He has a new family member, a child that is Spiritually connected to Him.  And God has a party to honor the occasion, which is the joy of our salvation, the sense in us that is awakened when the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and we realize that we can never be separated from the love that is found in Christ Jesus.

On the other hand the older brother represents a person who is standing on his own self righteousness and pride, lost in his sin (self indulgent nature).  The older son is also dependent on the grace of the Father for his daily bread but he thinks because he has tried to be a good son that this makes him deserving of the Father’s favor and care.  He doesn’t realize that he is just as Spiritually bankrupt as his younger brother, a “beggar” in need of God’s grace, love and eternal life.  To a person standing on their good works and efforts, “grace” is a dirty word because it is not something they can control and it’s purpose seems to reward failure and bad behavior.  Grace means God forgives someone who mistreated me and the offender never told me he was sorry or seemed to suffer any punishment for their offense.  Grace means God heals a friend’s wife from cancer but my wife dies.  Grace means God protects my neighbors house from a storm but a tree falls on my house and destroys it.  Grace means that God forgives my rebellious and reckless younger brother who used up all his inheritance and now my prodigal brother is living under a roof withe me and receiving the benefits that are rightfully my inheritance.  In other words, my useless brother is using up “my stuff” all because God’s grace isn’t fair!

Was it fair that Jesus was crucified?  What crime did He commit?  Jesus was punished because He loved you and me enough to die in our place.  He paid the debt that is due God because you and I make choices based on our own reasoning (our will – sin) instead of by doing what pleases God (His will) .  Look, you can continue to think you are good enough to please God and you have it all figure out.  You may think that God’s grace is for those who can’t “make it” in the world but you are missing the point.  You are dead in your trespasses and sin, the sin of being absorbed in yourself and justifying your actions based on your own reasoning.  You are not good and trustworthy toward God but you are in fact a a convicted felon on death row.  You are guilty of killing the Son of God and there is no good work you can do to compensate for that offense.  We are all Spiritually bankrupt and unable to pay for the cost of our sin.  Is Grace fair?  No, we deserve death but God wants to give us life.  We deserve death for rebelling against our Creator and following our own reasoning instead of following God’s will for our life.  We love our way of doing things and we love our stuff instead of loving God and loving others.  We are beggars before a gracious God and we need God’s GRACE – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense to be forgiven of our sin (self indulgent nature) and be put on the right track towards a life that is pleasing to God, a life based on grace.

And though we are to come to God as a beggar with childlike faith, trusting God to forgive our sin and give us what is best, we are not to act in our old child like ways and continue to pitch a fit when things don’t go our way.  We are to grown into the maturity of Christ, leaning about Jesus and about His Kingdom to Come, yet we do so by responding as a child to the authority of God.  We must give our self in childlike faith to God in order to allow the grace of God to transform us into the mature image of Christ.  God is wanting to make us into the person He originally predestined us to become before sin entered the world.  God is has not given up on His original desire for man and planet earth and God is going to one day create a new heaven and earth for His those who choose to be created new in Christ Jesus.  Remember, before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve enjoyed the close friendship and walks in the garden with Jesus as he instructed them about who they were and satisfied their curiosity and wonder concerning creation.  And that is what Jesus wants to do with His born again children, He wants to tell us who we really are and satisfy our curiosity about creation but more importantly He wants to restore our sense of childlike wonder as we desire to know Him and make Him know.

The secret to joy and happiness is understanding you are a beggar before God in need of His grace.  It is a beggar mentality that allows us to see who we really are in this world and what we really need.  We are not avoiding our responsibility when we admit we are beggars, dependent on God for everything.  In fact we are talking responsible to do the right thing when we admit that we are dependence on God for our very breath and we confess that we need the grace of God to change us into the person He created us to be.  The bottom line is that it is God’s grace that makes us happy and we can be happy no other way.  And God is not reluctant with His grace but He is always looking for us to come to Him and receive His grace.  He is even running to us to meet us and lavish us with His grace when we turn to Him in repentance with child like faith.

Do you need more of God’s grace today?

Matthew 7:  7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9“Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10“Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?11“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

That is why the song that John Newton wrote resonates with us because it expresses the joy of the return of the beggar to his father and the amazing grace that is found in Christ.  Here are my versions:

Amazing grace, it isn’t fair
That Christ should die for me
A love as wonderful as this
I truly have to see

 

I come a beggar to Your door
With nothing do I bring
To enter in and dine with You
A child born to the King

 

All that I am, all that I have
All that I’m meant to be
Is found in grace, the love of Christ
That ever covers me

– Rogersings

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