The Prodigal Son: A Departure from Riotous Living

Jul 24

“From a spiritual perspective, getting lost is unavoidable. Human nature is fundamentally flawed by sin. If people live their lives apart from God and follow their intuitions, they stay lost. That is because getting lost— physically or spiritually— is easy.” -John Kramp

Hey God, it’s me again. I really don’t know what that season was about— please don’t ask me. What can I say? I was called to the center of the dance circle, and your girl never turns down a challenge! It just took some time to realize the lure of cultural conversation kept me from the separation holiness requires.

And Reader, before you go getting wide-eyed and pharisaical on me, let me properly fill you in— I have struggled lately with the pull of my own humanity. It’s not a “bump and grind” on strangers at the club kind of season. It’s more like… a baby twerk at the family picnic. Innocent enough, but not something I want recorded for the Snap story. Can anybody relate?

I haven’t been living in open rebellion to God; if anything, I have craved him more. I have never consumed destructive substances or set up camp in blatant sinful patterns. I just looked up from my daily living to notice creek beds becoming chasms, a gap growing began me and the Rock. Now and then, I am guilty of simply giving creation more hold on my daily rhythms than the Creator.

Occasionally, I need the John 17 reminder that just because I am in the world does not mean I am of the world.

When I get stuck in worldly rhythms, I walk a morally gray tightrope. I
only realize I’m slipping off when I can no longer tell which
side feels safer to land.

Abandoning the art I so appreciate in film, books, music feels so sacrificial and impossible to give up. God has truly given us so much to appreciate in His world. It makes the pull of a return to righteousness seem restrictive, less colorful. It’s this mindset that puts me in the shoes of the Prodigal Son parable.

“And he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.’” (Luke 15:11-13, ESV)

Splurging Leads to Starving

The language used for “gathered all he had” (v. 13) implies that he converted his assets to cash, and spent it all on “riotous living” (some translations say).

The prodigal son craved independence and responsibility, but walked the tightrope of entertainment straight into the jaws of famine. Because he failed to guard himself from reckless choices, when the real difficulty came (famine in the land), he had nothing saved to survive it.

How do I know when my entertainment has become an idol? I start to crave its satisfaction instead of His fulfillment.

Famine Leads to Forgetting

Facing the potential of death by starvation, the son was left with no choice but to hire himself out as a servant, tending to pigs (v. 14-16). While he was caring for the swine, he discovered even they had a position of elevation over him.

Verse 16 says he was “longing to be filled” (starving). The term used to describe this longing better reads, “He would fain have been filled with anything.” He looked longingly at the sweet carobs the pigs enjoyed, but would have settled for grass or any substance to fill the void within.

Let me tell you what I’ve also learned as a fitness enthusiast— you can’t just fill your body with anything. Neutral filling produces neutral health. When we live on diets of Cheetos and light cardio, we’re hardly being worried over, but no one is asking the secret to our success.

We are neither looked down upon or looked up to, we are simply forgotten.

Friends, the field is the most dangerous, isolating place to be. It is the launchpad for addictions to take root, for sin to gain dominion over our lives.

How can I guard myself from falling to the neutral wayside? I see the world God created and adore Him more.

What does this mean for me?

Here’s the practical application, if you need a break from pigs and heifers (sorry, unholy thought slipped!):

That pop star’s new album may make me feel seen from heartbreaks I was handed years ago. But the girl who survived that hurt is dead and buried with Christ. Why should I revive her?

The story arc in that show is so brilliantly written, but the characters aren’t Redeemed. Why let their dialogue mimic truth I can only get from the living Word?

I am called and set apart to be a living sacrifice. To be an ambassador of Christ. Ambassadors wear the uniform, they don’t just speak the language.

I have to clothe myself in righteousness and resolve that culture won’t strip me down with the seduction of selfish entertainment.

Don’t Confuse Character and Calling

I recently heard Jess Connolly share the phrase “My character was misaligned with my calling,” and I think that best summarizes my tendency for “riotous living.” I’m not like the prodigal son story in my immediate “living to excess.” I’m just on the road to become him, when I take my eyes off the Holy One.

The enemy has almost talked me out of my calling in the field. I thought my toes were in the sand beneath the waves, only to find them covered in mud from the pigsty.

“When he came to himself” the son ran to the father in repentance, and his father cut him off in his speech, and embraced him (v. 17).

We serve a God who isn’t ashamed of your departure from riotous living. He won’t let you finish the sentence of your unworthiness.
He is the Father who places His best robe on your shoulders, claiming your rank and value.
He gives you the ring, marking you part of the family, giving you the authority of His name.
He puts sandals on your feet to declare you are not a slave to sin, but a free man.

The term “prodigal” comes from the description of his reckless living in verse 13. It means “one who does not save and cannot be saved.” For all intents and purposes, the prodigal son was too far gone. But verse 24 makes God’s position clearer: