Dallas County Living Well Magazine January/February 2018 | Page 20

The Prodigal
God
T
  here’s a familiar story in the Bible
known as “The Prodigal Son.” Some-
times, especially if you’ve grown up in
church, stories can become too famil-
iar. I love when God takes something
I’ve understood one way and completely turns it
on its head!
As the story goes, there was a father who had
two sons. The younger son came to his father and
asked for his inheritance. The father agreed and
the son quickly left for the far country where he
spent all his money on wild living! About the time
his money ran out, a great famine swept over the
land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a
local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him
into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man
became so hungry that even the pods he was
feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one
gave him anything.
When he finally came to his senses, he said to
himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have
food enough to spare, and here I am dying of
hunger! He returned home penitently, and while
he was still a long way off, his father saw him
coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran
to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
The father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the
finest robe and put it on him. Get a ring for his
finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf
we have been fattening. We must celebrate with
a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has
now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is
found.’ So the party began.
By Michelle Wallace
18
DALLAS COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
However, the story isn’t finished. The reception
infuriates the older brother. And the story ends
with the father begging his firstborn to forgive his
brother and join the party.
As author and pastor Timothy Keller stood to speak
about the story behind his book, The Prodigal
God, I felt something rise up inside me. “Prodigal
God,” I thought!? Fortunately Keller quickly gave
the definition according to Merriam-Webster’s Col-
legiate Dictionary.