The greatest Parable of God's love

This story is very popular and recognized as the greatest parable Jesus ever gave.
The Prodigal Son.
I love this story for many reasons, but the main reason is how it shows the unconditional love
we have in God, the forgiveness our God gives us, and an example of how we should be towards
others.

If you're unfamililar with the story you can read Luke 15:11-32, but for now I want to focus on
verses 18-24
18'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in your sight; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of
your hired men."' 20"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way
off, his father saw him at a distance and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him
and kissed him. 21"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your
sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22"But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and
put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;  23and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us
eat and celebrate;  24for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate...

This particular son sets out on his own adventure. And is essence sometimes we do the same.
We go off in our "have it all together" path of what we think life should be like and improperly
spend/misuse everything the Lord has given us. Once our plan runs out and we've exercised
all our options, guess who we turn to? God.

This story can be overlooked at times, but really it has so much we can learn from.
If you notice when the son returns humbly to admit his faults, the father embraces him.
He doesn't scold him, he doesn't ask questions, he opens his arms and gladly welcomes
him back home where he belongs. Our God is the exact same way. When we are totally
off the road and off track, God waits patiently, with loving compassion to restore us when
we return to Him with humble hearts. He offers us everything in His kingdom, restoring full
relationship with joyful celebration. He doesn't even dwell on our past offenses. God
is truly amazing and I believe if we could all get ahold of what it really means to be Christ-like
this world would be a more forgiving, and loving world.
Today I want to encourage you to go back home, where you now know
our Father is waiting for you. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of
God (Romans 8:39). From this day forward, you no longer have to dwell on your past,
 maybe you've made the same mistakes over and over, but God sees past that.
That's the difference between God and people.
People may forgive, but rarely ever forget...our God does both. You no longer
have to go on feeling unworthy of God's love or feel unfit to be His child
because of the things you've done, we've all fallen short of God's glory and as you see here,
you are always being waited on with arms wide open. Run back home. What are you waiting for?

With love & prayer,
Est
I