TOPIC:"The Sickness of a Thankless Soul"
"And he was angry, and would not go in" (Luke 15:28)
There's a sickness that is becoming widespread among many people today. It is the disease of being thankless. Not willing to express our gratitude to others, and especially, to God for His divine goodness. Such a sickness is very contagious. On this Thanksgiving Sunday God has something to say to each one of us about this matter of being unthankful.
Being thankful is the best medicine for the human soul. It is better than a prescription from your local drugstore. On the other hand, a thankless spirit reveals a terrible illness within the life. It saps one's energy and makes one sick. Let's behold how this is played out in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Who had the healthier spirit in this story - the Father or the Elder Brother? And what about the Prodigal Son himself? Let's begin our study.
Consider, to begin with, this truth: the Elder Brother had a SICKNESS that was harder to heal than the Sickness of the Prodigal Son. The sickness of the prodigal is stated for us in the words of verse 13: "And not many days after that the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living." The New American Standard renders it "loose living," while the New International Version puts it: "wild living." The indication is he spent his money on the sensual things of this life - women, sex, prostitution and strong drink. The Elder Brother describes him in verse 30 this way: "who has squandered your property with prostitutes" (NIV).
But even with such a sickness the prodigal son was still open to the healing power of forgiveness and restoration. This is seen in the words of verses 17 and 18 where we read these words: "he came to himself" and "I will arise and go...and will say...I have sinned." The prodigal came home. The forgiving father had a merry heart and invited all the members of the family to join in the celebration.
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