The One Time God Runs in the Bible

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son’.” (Luke 15:21)

The story, as it is told, chronicles the early adult life of a son, who after receiving his inheritance from his father, moved away, and apparently squandered a small fortune in the process. He put nothing away for a “rainy day” and found himself starving when a famine spread across the region. When he asked a friend for help, he sent him into his fields where he had to forage for food among pigs.

As with most experiences, sometimes God has to put us on our backs to get us to look up. Eating with pigs was a reality check and convinced the young son that he needed to change. Like many of today’s children, he returned home and sought refuge with his father. More importantly, his eyes were now open and he begged for his father’s forgiveness.

The Bible records that the young son’s father couldn’t forgive him fast enough. In fact, the very sight of him brought forgiveness before the son even asked. “But when he was still 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 to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son’.” (Luke 15:20-21)

By now you know the story told is the story of the Prodigal, or Lost, Son - a parable told by Jesus.

“God didn’t run,” you might say. “It’s just a parable.” True, but because this story is told by Jesus, it takes on greater importance. Parables were often used by Jesus to teach a spiritual truth. I’ll get to that point in a moment, but first let’s not overlook what Jesus said about the father. Twice in the parable the father says that his son was dead and is now alive again. “‘It was right that we should make merry and be glad’,” the father says to his son’s older brother, “For your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found’.”

Clearly, this is a parable about salvation. But it offers a message of hope that goes beyond salvation. There are many who are lost and think they have gone too far to ever be known as a child of God. This parable is a reminder of what three-time Southern Baptist Convention president and now deceased Memphis mega church pastor Adrian Rogers said, “None is so good he need not be saved and none is so bad he cannot be saved.”

Interestingly, we are often taught that God doesn’t move. It is we who move. But the spiritual truth Jesus emphasized in this parable is God will literally run to save us. Indeed, he will meet us halfway.