The Prodigal Son, Moral lessons learnt

The Prodigal Son:

The parable of the prodigal son; sometimes termed the lost son as narrated by Jesus himself (Luke 15: 11-32); is one that shows God's incomprehensible mercy and love.

Jesus began by saying:

There was once a man who had two sons. The younger one said to him, 'Father, give me my share of the property now'. So the man divided his properties between his two sons.

Luke 15: 11-12

From the above passage, it is quite clear that the younger brother had lost interest in the family's affairs. He must have pondered in his heart the sweetness of complete independence on a life of financial abundance.

To actualize his thoughts, he had the effrontery to go to his father to request for his inheritance even though his father is fully alive and active.

That singular act of 'inheritance request' is an utter disrespect on the father and even his elder brother.

This act of the younger son is even worse in the sense that: 'If his father had died (before he made his selfish request), he probably would have been happy because what he desired most would have come to him without making an effort'.

Moral Lesson

Greed, selfishness and excessive love for material things can make us betray those who have shown much love and care towards us.

Please read on the disadvantages of money here.

Although no one is perfect, we may have heard or seen people do crazy and unbelievable stuffs for the sake of trivial things; for instance; a mobile phone. To this end, some people may choose to steal or kill in order to achieve this purpose. In another instance, others may prefer to indulge in fornication, cheating, lying or another immoral act for the love of money or even something less.

The point is: whenever we commit sin, we become like the younger son who decided to part away with his father.

Please read on the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience here.

Note: The younger brother never lacked anything while he was living with his father.

After a few days, the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money on reckless living. He spent everything he had. Then there was a severe famine over that country, and he was left without a thing. So he worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to take care of the pigs. He wished he could feed himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

Luke 15: 13-16

From the above passage, it is quite clear that the younger son further hurt his father by selling his properties in his very eyes.

Note: The truth is: 'the father have got the right not to have given him his property in the first place'.

Please read on your fundamental human rights here.

One of the reasons why the father gave him the properties is because he wanted him to learn some lessons from his very actions.

According to the above bible passage, the younger son was reckless and extravagant with his spendings. In fact, this is why he's called the prodigal son; (because prodigal means wasteful or extravagant). He must have expressed a lot of financial showoff, while also lavishing some money on the ladies around; without any thought of the rainy days. To cut short the long story; he spent everything he had and was faced with reality.

However, one good attitude of the prodigal son was his willingness to never lose hope.

Please read on some motivational quotes here.

He decided to work; and not just that; he took up the most degrading job with regards to the village where he came from (since he was a Jew and the Jewish people had nothing to do with pigs according to their tradition).

You can imagine it in the context below:

Can the son of a king in UAE do a very degrading job in Afghanistan in order to survive?

Please read on the attributes of citizens and residents here.

The painful part of this is the fact that he wasn't even appreciated by whoever hired him. His state was so bad that he was willing to eat the pigs’ food; but unfortunately, no one offered him anything.

Recall that during his time of wealth in this foreign land, he must have made so many friends? Now, the question is:

Where are his friends in his time of greatest need?

Well, as you may have imagined, all his friends deserted him in his time of nothingness. He must have pondered about all of these pain, hurt, disgrace and shame in his heart but that did not deter him to stop working like a slave in a foreign land.

Moral Lesson

We must be very careful in choosing our friends especially when all is rosy and good. Reckless and extravagant spendings are good examples of ways to live a meaningless life.

Please read on the leadership qualities of Joseph that has transfomed lives here.

When everything seem to be good around you, all sort of people will flock on you 'like ants does on sugar'. Many will pretend to be your friends by saying things that would make you feel good; and for this reason, an unwise person will spend all his has on such false friends. This was exactly what happened to the prodigal son until he was penniless (left without a thing).

You can read on scale of preference and opportunity cost here.

The prodigal son did not give up like some other people would do. As an instance, some may have committed suicide as a result of betrayal, disgrace, pain and a state of being in nothingness. We must emulate this action of the prodigal son (not giving up) regardless the sorrow and bitterness we may be passing through; even if it had or hadn’t been caused by our mistakes.

Note: We must never lose hope. In fact, it was hope that made the prodigal son take an abominable and the most embarrassing work of his entire life in a foreign land. He accepted his mistakes and embraced reality. He was even willing to feed himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

Please read on the beauty of suffering here.

At last, he came to his senses and said, 'All my father’s hired workers have more than they can eat, and here am I about to starve! I will get up and go back to my father and say, Father, I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers'. So he got up and started back to his father.

Luke 15: 17-20

One important truth about life is the fact that we have all made mistakes. In addition, we may have made some unwise decisions that brought us pain, disgrace and trouble.

The parable of the prodigal son makes a perfect example of the appropriate and immediate reaction we should take at the realization of our mistakes. This is because; as soon as he came to his senses, he realized that he had sinned against God and his father.

He immediately picked himself up and started back to his father.

Moral Lesson

No one is perfect. At some point in our lives, we will make terrible and unwise mistakes. Making such mistake isn’t the most important thing.

The most important thing is:

As soon as we come to the realization of our mistakes, we must immediately start on our path towards making corrections.

Making corrections could take any of the following forms:

• Immediate exit from the evil act which we have found ourselves and a resolution to never go back to it.

• Apologizing and begging for forgiveness from those we have offended or hurt.

• Remuneration or paying back whatever we have taken from our victim.

• Presenting ourselves for appropriate punishment if an innocent person is already suffering (or is being punished) for our evil act.

• Making immediate and positive moves to write off our wrong.

• Begging the merciful God for forgiveness.

Please read on values here.

Notice that the prodigal son condemned his actions as soon as he came back to his senses. He showed remorse for his foolishness and evil actions by saying:

Father, I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.

Please read on the concluding part of this article here.

All Bible quotations were taken from the Good News Bible.