The Goodnews - Full Restoration - Luke Edition 2024

Greetings, this is day 15 out of 24 of reading the Bible with Darren!

Full Restoration;

Luke 15:8-9

It’s always good to read God’s Word when you’ve lost something or someone precious to you. In Luke 15:8-9, Jesus tells the parable of the lost coin.

“Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’”

The woman in the parable lights a lamp because she lost something precious. You too can “light a lamp” by allowing God’s Word to be a lamp to your feet (Psalm 119:105). No matter what you’ve lost, God wants to bring restoration to your life. Start lighting a lamp every day so He can speak to you, heal you, and restore you through His Word.

How to come home;

Luke 15:11-19

Do you ever have trouble restraining yourself? The lost son (often called the “prodigal son”) in Luke 15 certainly did. Demanding an early inheritance, he rejected his family and “wasted all his money in wild living” (v. 13). The son soon found himself penniless, and he had to make a choice: starve to death or return home. But how could he face his father after what he had done?
You may have asked yourself a similar question about your heavenly Father—How could God ever forgive me for what I’ve done? I’ve got great news for you: His grace is more powerful than your worst sin. You can come home to your Father today, and it’s as simple as these three steps:

Come clean in your heart.

Verse 17 says the lost son “finally came to his senses.” In other words, he stopped lying to himself. When his money ran out and his circumstances caught up with him, the lost son had to face the truth: sin will always catch you. Every person is born with a sinful heart, but when you have an encounter with God, He gives you a new, pure heart (Ezekiel 36:26). We must guard our new hearts against becoming cold or hard, and remind ourselves that we are no longer sinners—we are children of the King!

Come clean with the Father.

Have you ever confessed a sin so many times that you worried God’s grace was going to run out? Sin makes us want to hide from God, but the only way to overcome sin is to bring it to the Father. When the lost son returned home, his father could have demanded an account of his foolish behavior; instead, he simply forgave him. Our heavenly Father knows everything you’ve ever done or ever will do wrong, and guess what? He’s forgiven you! If you’re a believer, Jesus’ blood covers all your sins—past, present, and future. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Come clean from the pigs.

When his money ran out, the lost son took a job feeding pigs. This was not a glamorous job, and by the time he came home, he was probably dirty from head to toe. The lost son’s body certainly needed a bath, but what about his spirit and soul? Past sins can still affect us today, and issues such as emotional wounds, generational curses, and habitual sins can keep believers in bondage. The only way to get free is to bring everything to Jesus. Deliverance is the birthright of every believer, and God wants to set you free today.

The Older Brother Syndrome;

Luke 15:25-32

When the lost son returned home, his father was so happy to see him that he threw a party. However, one family member was not in the mood to celebrate: the lost son’s older brother. He refused to attend the party and angrily scolded the father, “When this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!” (v. 30).
Have you ever felt that way about other believers? Have you ever thought, That’s not fair! I’ve been much more faithful to God, so why are they getting all the blessings? I call this the older brother syndrome—seeing others as worse than yourself and despising them for it. I could also call it the Pharisaic syndrome, because all three parables in Luke 15 address how the Pharisees looked down on other people.
So what causes this syndrome? Pride. And pride has three major effects on our lives:
1. Pride affects the way we see ourselves. The older brother was prideful about his obedience—“|’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to” (v. 29). The root of pride is self-righteousness, which means we think we can attain righteousness on our own without Christ. However, no one is perfect; everyone sins (Romans 3:23). The Pharisees were self-righteous, and Jesus rebuked them for it (Luke 18:9-14).
2. Pride affects the way we see others.
Some people think their sins are less “bad” than other people’s sins. But Jesus never said there are better or worse sinners. Instead, we each owe the same amount—everything! The older brother saw himself as better than the lost son, but compared to God, no one is perfect. That is why we all need Jesus!
3. Pride affects the way we see the Father.
When we allow self-righteousness to come into our lives, we not only look down on other believers, but we also begin to judge God. Have you ever responded to someone else’s blessing like the older brother: “You never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends” (v. 29)? How many “mature” believers miss out on the presence and provision of the Father because they allow bitterness and envy to harden their hearts? The only way to avoid the older brother syndrome is to keep our focus on the cross. Like the apostle Paul, we must “forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). We all are sinners, and we all need God’s incredible grace.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.