Thought for the Day

And he [Jesus] said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: Luke 15:11-23

You've probably heard or read this story many times. Many people use this story to say that no matter how far away from God you go, and how far into sin you slide, you will still always be God's child. In essence, they are saying that no matter what awful thing you do, you can't lose your salvation. There are, however, too many scriptures that say otherwise.

Don't believe that? Look at the next verse:

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Verse 24.

As far as the father was concerned, his son was DEAD! Not just gone away for a while, but dead. He had ceased to exist. The father was ecstatic to receive him back when he repented of his sin and turned back to the right way, but while he was gone into sin, he was dead to his father. In verse 20, it does say that his father saw him a long way off and ran to him, but it doesn't say that his father was nervously pacing back and forth, spending hours staring up the road to see if he was coming.

Likewise, if we turn from our Father in Heaven and go back into sin, we will be dead in His sight. But, if we turn away from sin (repent) and come back to Him begging forgiveness, He will welcome us back. So, we should not ever think that backsliding and being "just a prodigal" is no big deal. It is a huge deal!

Thought for the Day

Have you ever heard people telling about how something happened and it made them so mad they just wanted to spit? And then they say, I feel so guilty for getting angry. Why? Is it a sin?

Let's look. First, we know and agree that God cannot commit sin. It just can't happen. That's another lesson. Use a Bible computer program or a concordance and see how many references you find to God's anger or the anger of the Lord. The Old Testament is chock full of references to God getting angry. So, getting angry is obviously not sinful. When evil is being committed we should get angry. How can anyone resist evil if it doesn't make them angry first? Since we are made in the image of God, and have some of the same emotions He does (that's where we got them from), we are going to get angry on occasion.

What makes us angry, and what we do with that anger are another story.

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Proverbs 16:32

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:9

We don't want to be in the position where every little thing sets us off. It is better to be in control of our spirit and not quick to be angry. And once we get angry, we have to get over it in a reasonable amount of time. Don't let it rest in your heart, or you will be a fool!

In the New Testament, Paul said these things:

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Ephesians 4:26.

Paul the Apostle said, "Be angry!" Just don't let it make you commit sin!

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: Ephesians 4:31

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Colossians 3:8

When we get angry, we have to put it off, not carry it around with us for days and weeks, becoming hateful and bitter. We can't let that anger cause us to commit sins, either.

So, the next time you find yourself getting angry, be careful in how you react, and then turn it over to the Lord as soon as you can. But remember, God Almighty Himself gets angry, too.