My wife has placed a small flip chart 365-day devotion guide on the shelf in our bathroom. The February 7th devotion reads, “May you rise up today with the full assurance that God has your back. He is with you, for you, and actively working on your behalf. He does for you what you cannot do for yourself. May you do for Him the only thing you can do: Trust Him with your whole heart and embrace joy along the way.” The last six words caught my attention, “… and embrace joy along the way.” As I pondered those words, I thought, “What good does it do to trust God with your whole heart if you do not embrace joy along the way?” If a three-legged stool is missing a leg, it is no good. We are the same way. What good are we if we have faith and hope but no joy?
As I pondered the words above, my mind raced back to the 1980’s. I was the pastor of Stovall Baptist Church. There was a young man named Billy who attended the church. Billy was approximately 12-13 years old, lived in the community, and had a three-wheeler dirt bike-type motorcycle. He rode that thing everywhere. But I did not mention that, somewhere along the way, a wheel bearing had seized on the hub of one of the back wheels. He had no money to repair it. However, being a resourceful young man, he refused to let this minor setback stop him. He removed the back wheel and rode that thing anywhere he wanted on two wheels. It was a sight to see. He would always park it propped against a tree, a porch, or something else. When he got ready to ride, he would crank it, mount it, push it away from whatever it was propped against, throw his body sideways as a counterweight, and take off. As I said, it was a sight to see! But here is the Spiritual truth: Just as Billy could not fully embrace the joy associated with his three-wheeler, neither can you and I fully embrace the joy of the Lord in our lives when there is a Spiritual defect that we’ve not repaired and are attempting to work around.
As all of this was roaming inside my head and heart, I thought about the parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15 in the Bible. As a side note, how many of you have heard this parable called “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” all your life? Would it surprise you if I told you this is wrong? We identify with the younger son who left home and wasted everything on sinful living. But the Bible says in Luke 15:11, “… A certain man had TWO sons.” In verses 25-32, we find the story of the Older Prodigal Son. (The older brother.)
The older brother epitomizes someone who has failed to embrace joy along the way. By Jewish law, his father could not give his younger son his inheritance without giving his older son his. That’s why Luke 15:31 records him telling his son, “And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”
Space limitations prevent me from delving as deeply into this thought as I want. Therefore, I may continue this thought next week. However, I want to leave several things for you to ponder regarding this Older Prodigal Son:
1: You don’t have to leave home to be prodigal. He never left the homeplace!
2: He got his information from a servant instead of talking to his father.
3: He got angry. He boycotted the party his dad had thrown for his brother. Luke 15:28, “And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.”
4: He became jealous of his father's actions regarding his brother. In fact, he stated in Luke 15:29, “… Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.”
In short, this Older Prodigal Son had done everything right except for embracing joy along the way. His wheel bearing had seized. He was driving on two wheels. Nothing was right. However, I love what the father did. He came out and told him that what he did was right, and there was a party going on inside the house, which he was welcome to join. However, he wasn’t going to bring it outside to him. He gave him a choice: Party or pout! Somebody needs to hear this today!
Party or pout? Please choose to join the party. Don’t fail to embrace the joy of life along the way!
Brother Aaron