17 \u201cWhen he came to his senses, he said, \u2018How many of my father\u2019s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.\u2019 20 So he got up and went to his father. The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Lk 15:17\u201320.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cWhen he came to his senses…\u201d I am sure that many of you reading this right now are praying for a child, a spouse, a friend to have that spiritual light come on and come to their senses.<\/p>\n
In the same way, I hope that many of you reading this are open to the possibility that God might be wanting to knock a little sense into you.<\/p>\n
That phrase \u201cwhen he came to his senses\u201d is actually very interesting in the original language (eis heauton de elth\u014dn). If you read the English Standard Version, or even the good ol\u2019 King James Version, you already know the phrase is really different from the New International Version I just provided.<\/p>\n
These other versions replace \u201cwhen he came to his senses\u201d with \u201cwhen he came to himself\u201d, and honestly, its the most accurate translation.
\nWhat does it mean for him to \u201ccome to himself\u201d? I think it reveals three very important reminders for anyone praying for their prodigal, or for those of us who acknowledge our prodigal ways.<\/p>\n
\n- A prodigal can\u2019t be convinced, they have to figure it out. <\/strong>You know there were conversations that would have taken place in a household like that which we don\u2019t see reflected in this story. The Father pleading for his son to reconsider, a sibling rolling his eyes and mumbling words like moron, and respectful servant humbly asking him to consider the consequences. Still, none of it mattered. A true prodigal is one that is only going to learn things the hard way. They aren\u2019t interested in alternatives, opinions, reality or even the truth. They have decided what they are going to do, and the only person that is going to convince them otherwise is themselves. If you’re acting the prodigal, and reading this gives you a little \u201cAha\u201d moment, then consider yourself blessed. You don\u2019t have to hit rock bottom.<\/li>\n
- A prodigal needs to see themselves as they really are.<\/strong> This phrase \u201ccame to himself\u201d literally means that prior to this moment he had been beside himself. A true prodigal often has characterized their world and is living an out of body experience seeing only what they want to see. They have labeled the wise influencers in their life fools, the ones who love them interferers, the places of hope and security they call boring and stupid. Most importantly, they have come to believe themselves to be the wisest, hippest most clued in of all. To do this, they have to be beside themselves… it\u2019s the only way possible to bow down at the altar of \u201cthemselves\u201d. For a prodigal to turn it around, they have to come face to face with themselves in the mirror of reality, and not those carnival mirrors they have been using for years.<\/li>\n
- When a prodigal comes to themselves, they need to do something<\/strong>. Just admitting they\u2019ve been a jerk, hurtful, dumb is not enough. Think about it, when is \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d really enough? I know, I know, I know, you hyper religious types are automatically wanting to call me out and say that God\u2019s grace is sufficient, you can\u2019t add to or take away from that. Too true, but I also see a Scriptural theme that says, \u201cWhat shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?<\/em>\u201d (The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, Ro 6:1\u20132). In fact, \u201ccoming to himself\u201d is a Hebrew\/Aramaic expression for \u201crepented.\u201d Repentance is an action, a 180 degree turn, it is a definitive change! The prodigal stays prodigal unless a change is made.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Whether the Prodigal is one you love, or the prodigal is you, it\u2019s important to remember that prodigals have to come to their senses by coming to themselves.<\/p>\n
\n- You can\u2019t convince them, they have to figure it out for themselves.<\/li>\n
- They have to start seeing reality and not the world as they have created it<\/li>\n
- They have to take some steps in the right direction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Then, no doubt the Father will wrap them up, restore them and give them back new life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When was your last \u2018Aha\u201d moment?<\/p>\n
I love those, and… I hate those. When you have a real-deal \u201cAha\u201d moment it can be incredible relief, even victory. Or, quite often it can plummet you into a spiral of depressive humility because of personal stupidity.<\/p>\n
Guess it just depends on the particular \u201cAha\u201d you are experiencing.<\/p>\n
I love seeing these moments in my kids. I still remember watching \u2018just past toddler\u2019 Noah trying to pound a screw into some scrap wood with a hammer. When I introduced him to a screwdriver… I was a genius.<\/p>\n
The Prodigal Son story is one of those stories that tends to lead people to their own \u201cAha\u201d moment, generation after generation. Relationships restored, addictions admitted, hypocrisy revealed… the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it\u2019s an \u201cAha\u201d moment within the story itself that is at the heart of Jesus\u2019 teaching. It\u2019s not that the incredible love of the Father, or the overwhelming stupidity of the younger son, or the amazing hope of redemption take a back seat to anything else. But, they all pivot on the gut-wrenching \u201cAha\u201d moment of this wayward, reckless kid!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[139,308,309,64,307],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}