Prodigal

A Parable of Two Paths

Two friends were walking down the same path when they came to a point of contention in the road. It was a point of conflict, some could call it a crisis. Here the path diverged into two separate ways. One path had a small gate and a narrow road. It was a path that chooses the hard thing, the sacrifice of self, in order to pursue reconciliation. Because that’s what Jesus did for us.

The other path was wide and broad, and most people end up walking that way because it is easier. It is a path that elevates the self, gratifies the desires of the flesh, and feasts on the ideals of individualism, preference, and personal choice. 

One friend had promised to always walk the small, narrow path with the other friend, not knowing the friend would choose the broader road and their paths would diverge. 

Father of the Prodigal Son

I felt powerless to affect any kind of change in the decision of my friend. Although several of her friends rallied around her to plead with her to not go down the wide path, she chose to listen to the counsel of some other people who lured her that way. Perhaps I will always wonder why she chose them over us. 

When we feel powerless, we must be careful to never project our powerlessness on God. 

Psalm 147:5 (in the passion translation) says, “How great is our God! There’s absolutely nothing his power cannot accomplish, and he has infinite understanding of everything.”

That verse alone spoke to my heart and comforted me when I wondered why God seemingly didn’t answer my prayers for my friend, when I wondered if he felt as powerless as I did to change her mind. 

So I ask God, where are you in this? Where were you when I prayed for the wisdom to intervene in the life of my friend? Or when I felt powerless and asked you to change her mind instead? 

He reminds me of the story of the prodigal son, and he says, “Here I am.”

We always think of God as a God who pursues, but this is one case where he did not. He let the son find out on his own how the path he chose led to emptiness and misery. And he stood like a watchman, patiently and eagerly waiting for the return of the son. At the first sight of him, he ran to meet him from afar and celebrated his return. 

That’s where I am in this story, the Lord said. Waiting here with arms open wide, watching for the return of my child, ready to welcome her again. 

Then I learned that he wants me to respond the same way. 

The Parable of Two Paths 

The narrow road is never far from the broad one, and the friend who walks the broad road only has to make the decision to step back onto the narrow road in order to find it again. 

Even when a friend chooses the broad path, that is not the end of the story. 

When the friend chose the broad road, her friends on the narrow road did not leave her. They did not bound out of reach and leave her in the dust. They did not disapprove of her, shun her, or forget about her. They chose to walk beside her, within an arms reach, for it is possible to stay on the narrow road and still be near to those who are far from it. That’s what Jesus did. 

The Fixer and the Faithful

I tend to be a fixer, especially when I notice the specks of sawdust in my brother’s eye. This entire interaction has convicted me heavily of my own sin. What if my friends confronted me about my sin in the same we we have confronted her about hers? In what areas of my life is God trying to counsel and correct me, and I am refusing him in order to go my own way? I easily see myself as the friend on the straight and narrow path, but I’m beginning to think I am more like the prodigal. 

I tend to be a fixer, but God is showing me that he never called me to fix anything. He is the Fixer. He doesn’t call me to fix it, but to be faithful in it. 

“Do you trust me to change her heart?” God says, and I know he can because he promises in his word that he is powerful over all things and understanding of all things. 

“Do you trust me to do it in my time?” He says, and I know that He is standing there, waiting with arms wide open. And then he adds:

“Do you trust me to change your heart as well?” Because I begin to see the plank in my own eye and find one foot walking on the broad path as well. 

I can trust him with her and with me and with the walking of the two paths. For He is the fixer, and I am to be faithful.