Luke 15:11-13, ‘…A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.” So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.’
RESEARCH AND STUDY
After the young man received his ‘portion of goods’ from his father, he wasted his possessions with prodigal living. Prodigal living means he spent recklessly, was wasteful with what he had, and exhibited no control over his spending. (Notice that this is a YOUNG MAN, so for my male readers, this issue is especially for you.) Are you a prodigal child? Maybe you tend to buy indiscriminately or aimlessly make purchases for no reason other than for satisfaction or mere gratification.
How can you identify a prodigal purchase? Usually these purchases are not needed, too expensive for where you are now financially, are unhealthy, and are quite ungodly. At the time, they seem harmless so you tell yourself, ‘it’s not like I do this all the time.’ You make excuses before, during and after the purchase to justify your recklessness. You plan what you’ll spend, research the product or service and will even shop around for the best price so that you can save money—spending wastefully. But when you get down to it, wasteful spending is an act of disobedience. You may ask, ‘How is that disobedience? What’s wrong with me spending my hard earned cash on something that will bring me satisfaction and enjoyment? ’ Nothing is wrong with that unless God had a specific purpose allocated for the cash you spent for that purchase. Say for instance, your under-aged son or daughter asked you to attend a friends’ birthday party and they needed some cash to buy them a gift. You agree and give them the money to purchase a nice gift. What you didn’t know is they were plotting to go to the club and buy alcohol and drugs with the cash you gave them for that gift. Now I ask you, was your child wrong for spending money that had been allocated and designated by you for a specific purpose? Likewise, the same principle holds true for you – you grown child of God. YOUR ASSIGNMENT Repent! Ask God to forgive you for all the times you deliberately spent wastefully. Ask Him for the grace to not spend wastefully or live prodigally. COMING SOON...REAL ISSUES CONFERENCES!
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