Luke 15:11-16
11 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.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
To me, though I know the outcome, the story still has a sad side to it. One that could have easily been avoided. The Prodigal Son left home looking for nothing more than to please the flesh, only to later find out that he had taken on an impossible task. All the late nights of living it up and there was never a dull moment; partying it up with friends, and enjoying the pleasures of sin. Then it happened... The worldly lifestyle caught up with him, It broke him down as a person, it stripped from him those who said they were his friends, and took away everything his father gave him.
It's amazing how quickly people disappear when your hands are empty. Now the man who once had it all, in a short period of time, is trying to figure out how to survive. All of this because of one bad decision; to leave home.
Leaving the Father is never in your favor, just stay home! Yes he made it back, but all Prodigal stories don't end this way. Sometimes the scars a prodigal carries last a lifetime.
JUST STAY HOME!
Pastor Todd McClain