Is, not if

We are either one or the other:

One day we are the older brother, the next day we are the younger brother.

 One day we are self-righteous, self-contained, the next day reckless and chaotic.

Why, I wonder?

The parable shows that either way there is hope.

God is love, pure relationship. God just ‘is.’ Whereas we tend to think in terms of ‘if’:

If we do this, then God will do this.

If God does this, then we will do this.

The relationship becomes conditional, akin to bargaining at the markets, and that won’t do when it comes to God. God just is and won’t be manipulated, one way or the other.

God loves us and then creates us, and subsequently – because of sin – redeems us. It is all pure gift:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Ephesians 1).

We let it sink in:

 God just is. No ifs. He loves us, creates us, redeems us.

Amen.