WHEN WE COME TO OUR SENSES

Luke 15:17-24

 

 

It is odd to think to exchange something valuable for something that never lasts.

How many times we neglect to value what is important in exchange of what is really essential.

We follow our desires; we chase our dreams only to realize that they are just fleeting things.

It seems odd to understand that we forget our first love because we found someone that we thought they are better than the latter.

Regret is always at the last. We will only realize what is really important when we come to our senses.

 

The Fate of a Prodigal Son

It’s one of the renowned Jesus parables of a younger son who asked his father for the share of his estate. So the good father decided to divide his wealth between them and not many days later, the younger son gathered everything and started his journey away home. He squandered his shares with extravagant living.

Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be penniless; he started to work as helper feeding the swine. But the income he had is not enough that he even shared with the pods that the swine were eating.

But he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger.

 

What We Exchange

We can relate to the story because, in so many instances, we tend to exchange something better for temporary things.

We put more value on ownership rather than relationships.

We laid more weights on the worlds rather than in His Words.

We pay more attention on the things that are just trivial rather than what is essential.

We fight for our own rights but neglect others need and their plight.

We defend and stand with our pride but fail to understand the feeling of the other side.

The son chooses his freedom to do what he desired to do with his life and spent the rest of his life with people whom he thought would help him.

Is it funny to realize that the more we desire to be free but yet the more we trap into the rat race?

The more we desire to make life easy and simple, the more it becomes complex.

The more we settle with our selfish ambitions, this always leads to our own destructions.

What are those things that we regret today because we choose to exchange it for something less?

 

Choose what is best

Is it not wise for a man to exchange something better for a lower value?

Will we exchange our dollar to peso less than its current rate?

This is what happens when we choose to serve only ourselves rather than choosing to serve others.

Anything we do for just personal interest will not bear fruit and serve its best.

We cannot live in immorality but when someone speaks the truth, we feel not guilty; yet we tell that person that he should understand your personality.

The younger son already living the best in the presence of his father. They have slaves and everything.

He was living in abundance yet he still desires to live free away from his father, thinking that being away he could have better control of himself and can be able to do exactly what he wants.

Little we realize, that we tend to live away from the presence of God thinking we could do more better and do exactly what we desire to do.

But the more that we distance ourselves from His loving presence, the more we detached ourselves from the provisions and move away from the shadow of God’s protection.

In Psalm 91 is an assurance for those who choose to dwell in the shelter of the Most High.

Away from Him, we can do nothing. If we decide to live apart from Him is like a branch detached from its vine. The blessings stop and the branch dried up.

The son began to be impoverished so he decided to hire himself out as a helper of the swine.

Walking away from the grace of God will slowly make us poor not only materially but the worst is in our spirituality.

The more we deprived ourselves of the presence of God, our spirit and our soul becomes dry.

Even we work things out; the material needs, people that surround us is not enough to fill the vacuum that was left empty because it longs for the presence of our loving Father.

Choose our God and we choose the better part.

 

When we come to our senses

The situations and our conditions we are in might be horrible is not a punishment but a mere consequence because we walk away from the Father.

But the consequence should be the jolting point for us realize that we have gone far.

It’s a bumper for us to be an awakening point from our sleep and be aware that our conditions are not permanent.

We have to come to our senses.

This is the what happened to the younger son. He became aware that his suffering was not a punishment but a turning point to return back to where he really belongs.

That his afflictions were not borne but the consequence of his unwise actions.

We are not born with sufferings, but most of it was the result of our foolish actions and decisions.

When we come to our senses, we will realize what those things that are more relevant.

It will bring us to an awareness of who we really are, how God values us more than any other.

If we come to our senses, it will lead us to come back to the presence of God who never stops waiting for us for our return.

 

Second chance

God is giving us second chance, third chance…

He allows us to stand up and walk past from where we fell.

Never be so stuck in our sin thinking that we cannot rise again.

Never thought that we cannot correct our mistakes.

When we come to our senses, think that God is giving us another chance.

God’s arm is wide enough to embrace us again. His mercy is far greater than our sin.

He patiently waits for our return.

 

Call to Repent

Luke 13:1-9 is another parable where Jesus expound that we need to repent.

Coming to our senses make us repent of our sins.

We cannot judge others that they are more sinners because of their fate nor their situations because unless we repent, we will all perish.

Unless we come to our senses, we will not mend our ways but will continue to walk to our death.

God wanted to see the fruit in us. Like the fig tree, without finding any fruit after how many years is destined to be cut down.

Better be humble down before God,

than be cut down in our relationship with God. Before the blessings are cut down and stop it from flowing. Before the sun goes down leaving us un-repented.

 

Dig around and put Fertilizer

The owner of the fig tree asks favor to the owner of the vineyard to give him chance to dug in and put fertilizer hoping that the tree will eventually bear many fruits.

Time is given to us each day, a chance to dug in deeply in ourselves and check our relationship with our ourselves with others and with our God.

We have to dig down deep into our hearts what are those things that truly matters and essentials.

We need to put in fertilizers to eventually grow us more in our relationship with our God.

We need to add more value in our time with people who really matter to us.

God is giving us more time but not in our terms but in God’s term.

When Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh to repent for their sins,

God has given them 40 days.

They humble themselves and wore sack clothes and sit on ashes to show that they were sorry for their sins.

What are those things that we added to strengthen our relationship with Him?

 

May we come always to our senses and our life live in its full,

Mikesendon