Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good afternoon, dear ones.

Afternoon began only 14 minutes ago. I was at the hospital in Silverton for a blood draw about 8am. It’s simply an attempt to get an updated picture of where my numbers stand.

I need to get on with work on this mural frame. I made some decent headway yesterday…but there will be little relaxation till the thing is basically complete. I have a time line to fight with.

May your day be blessed..

Love, Dad/Ray

Here is a vital key to the lost son’s restoration—the conversion from LOST to FOUND. It didn’t matter how much the father loved that boy. It didn’t matter how much the father graciously tried to do for him. In fact, I can only imagine that had the father gone out and tried to restore his son prior to that critical point where “he came to his senses” and personally repented, the father could have been functioning as an enabler of his son’s addiction to stupid, giving him a sloppy attitude toward the father’s grace, and making it easier for him to rebel again in the future. Before his true restoration could happen, “he came to his senses.” I believe that this “aha moment” allowed objective reasoning to prevail and conviction to set in, giving sharp clarity to what previously was blurred, he became enlightened to actually face the fact of his own detestable stupidity, and that he was worthy of NOTHING good. He reasoned that “father’s flunkies fared far fancier and flew forthwith back to his father’s farm fields” (See below for a fuller version of the story in “F.”)—for if his father would allow it, he would be content to serve as the least of one of his father’s slaves. He now saw things clearly—he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. A decision was made to abandon the pig pen at any cost and return to his father. The whole scene is a dramatic demonstration of the Biblical principle expressed by James—“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10). Sure enough—the son did the humbling and the father did the lifting.

Please pay careful attention to the lessons to be gleaned from this highly significant story. Of course you want to avoid any kind of rebellion to the known will of God. Except for the positive example of coming “to his senses,” humbling himself, and repenting, the wayward son is the picture of a Biblical fool. But neither do we want to give place to the arrogant self-righteousness demonstrated by the older brother. While he had the appearance of remaining faithful, he remained out of synch with the heart of the father. That which made the father rejoice actually made the older son angry. Please treat his example as a personal warning.

PS: I’ve lost my original copy of “The Prodigal Son in ‘F.’” So I’m just winging it—trying to recall it with my ailing memory.

"Feeling footloose and fancy free, a foolish fellow forced his father to fork over the final farthing and flew forthwith into foreign fields where he feasted fabulously with faithless friends where he frittered his fortune. Finally, fleeced by his fellows in folly, and facing famine, he found himself a feed flinger in a filthy farmyard and feign would have filled his frame with the foraged food and fodder fragments. “Phooey, phooey, phooey,” the frazzled fugitive fumed, frankly facing facts. “Father’s flunkies fare far fancier!” He falteringly found his father’s farm field and fumed, “Father, I’ve flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor.” But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching said, “Flag a flunky, fetch the fatling, fix a feast, unfurl the flags. Let fun and frolic freely flow. My foolish but favored son of filial fondness is finally found.”