The Prodigal Son: From Give Me to Make Me

 “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. . . I am no longer worthy to be called your son. make me as one of your hired servants” Luke 15: 12, 19.

These passages are taken from the familiar parable Jesus told known as the “Prodigal Son”. To read the entire parable, click here.

Lessons From the Prodigal Son: From Give Me to Make Me

Joyce Meyer makes the observation that initially the prodigal said, “give me” (Luke 15:12). Then later, when he comes to his senses he says, “make me”(Luke 15:19). This intimates that at first, he just wanted the stuff. He was focused on externals. You can listen here.

Later, when he came to his senses, he was no longer saying give me, but make me, or change me. His focus had changed from the stuff to the character issues.

I wanted to enlarge on this idea a bit and note that initially he said, “give me my share of the estate” or, in other words, “give me my inheritance”. And later when he came to his senses he said, “make me like one of your hired hands“. In other words, “make me a servant”.

Most of us start out the way he did, seeking the stuff or “all these things” rather than the “kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mathew 6:33).

And we learn at some point, that we don’t get the inheritance or stuff or “all these things” until we learn to be a servant. This is really the same as seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

It was the father’s will, of course, to give his son the share of the estate at the right time. And the right time would have been when the son had matured enough not to squander it on “reckless living” (verse 13).

But because the son insisted on getting it now, the father reluctantly gave it to him. Sadly, because he refused to wait, he lost it in the end.

If You Take It Too Soon, You Will Lose It

This is exactly what happened with Adam and Eve too. I believe it was God’s will for them to eventually partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (or wisdom) and become wise. How could it not be God’s will for his children to be wise?

But they wanted the rewards of wisdom (long life, honor, wealth) before they had done the hard work to become wise. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). They took it before they were ready, before they were mature. Consequently, they lost it.

We too can get what we want now by sinning. If we get it this way, we won’t have to wait, but it will be temporary. We won’t get to keep it. Or we can wait to get our needs met and get what we want.

We do this by not sinning and trusting in and waiting for God to provide it. If we take this route, there’s no two ways about it. We will have to wait. But once we get it, we won’t lose it.

Lessons From the Prodigal Son: God Is Not Holding Out on Us by Making Us Wait

The prodigal lost his inheritance because he wasn’t mature enough to handle it. If he would’ve waited until he had gained some maturity, he would’ve made better decisions. He would not have squandered it on reckless living. And if he would’ve played his cards right, he maybe even would’ve made it grow.

We think God is holding out on us by making us wait for things. But in reality, He’s protecting us from the loss and harm our immaturity would produce if He gave it to us now. We wouldn’t give the car keys to our five-year-old because he would kill himself. (Of course, he doesn’t see it that way). But we might give them to our responsible 16-year-old.

I used to think the father of this prodigal was perhaps too permissive. Because he allowed him to have the inheritance before he was mature enough to handle it, he lost it. I thought he would have been better off with a sterner father who would’ve refused his request. But then I realized this approach works with children, but not so much with grown men.

He Doesn’t Force Us to Do What’s in Our Best Interest

He had to allow him to make his own choices. I think God is similar to this father is the sense that He’s given us a free will to choose a course of action. In other words, He doesn’t force us to do what’s in our best interest against our will.

He tells us what’s best for us in His Word. He gives us His Spirit to guide us in the way we should choose. And He brings wise counselors into our lives.

But in the end, He leaves it up to us to choose. And if we stubbornly refuse to yield, if we insist on having our own way, He will allow us to squander our inheritance too. Because it’s infinitely better to learn the hard way than to not learn at all. See Proverbs 1: 24-33.

Based on Psalm 84:11 “No good thing will He withhold from him whose walk in blameless”, I don’t think God often says “no” to his obedient maturing children. But I certainly do think He says “wait”. We would lose everything God has for us if He didn’t insist that we mature first.

Hence, He must wait for us to mature before He can bring us to our promise land, give us our inheritance or give us the rewards of wisdom. We must be wise in order to get the rewards of wisdom. And we must fear God in order to get wise.

One of the tragic lessons of the prodigal son is this is exactly what happens to us when we insist on getting what we want and need now by sinning. We need to instead wait for God to meet our need.

We do this by choosing not to meet our own need by sinning. Sin will allow us to get what we want and need now. We won’t have to wait, but it won’t last. It will be temporary, short-lived and fleeting.

The Lure of Sin is Always Immediate Gratification

If instead we resist temptation and trust in and wait for God to meet our need, we will have to wait. Make no mistake about it. “By faith and patience, we inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). But when we do get it, it will be lasting, we won’t lose it, it will be ours to keep.

The allure of sin is always immediate gratification. But anything we get immediately (by sinning) won’t last. “An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end” Proverbs 20:21.

The Israelites were guilty of the same thing in the wilderness. Their trials were designed to bring about endurance in doing what’s right. And ultimately to make them mature.

Once they matured, they would’ve been ready to receive their inheritance, the promise land. But tragically, because they insisted on having it before the wilderness did its work in them, they lost it entirely.

Lessons From the Prodigal Son: We’re Not Ready Until We’re Mature

As a rule, the Lord will not give us what we want until we’re ready. And we’re not ready until we’re mature. But we can take it before we’re ready by sinning. This is what Adam and Eve did. It’s what the Israelites tried to do. And essentially what the prodigal did.

The passage doesn’t say he took it, but he did demand it. This is a picture of what we do when we sin to get our needs met and get what we want. We’re saying in effect, “I want this now, on my own terms. I won’t be denied!”

If we want our promise land, abundant life, our inheritance, we really have no choice but to mature. God won’t give it to us until then and if we just take it before we’re ready, we’ll lose it.

So, really, the only way to get and keep it by going through the trials that test our faith, enduring in doing what’s right and becoming mature. This is the only way we’ll get and keep it. But remember, it won’t be immediate.

We’ll have to wait because just as a child doesn’t become an adult overnight, we don’t grow up spiritually overnight. We can speed up the process though by submitting to our trials and resisting sin rather than resisting our trials and submitting to our sin. For similar posts to Lessons from the Prodigal Son, see Lessons from Samson to Live (or Die) By.

Although many of my posts are intended to motivate Christians to grow up so they can be blessed, that shouldn’t be our main reason for wanting to mature. Ultimately, everything we do as a Christian should be a response to what He’s already done for us.

From Foolish to Wise to Foolish Again

In fact, growing up and becoming wise is only the first step in the Christian experience. Some already come to faith with a measure of this, but many do not. And as we’ve learned, wisdom and maturity bring rich rewards. But that’s not the end of the journey.

Once we’ve done the hard work to become wise and are experiencing the benefits, the next step is to give it up for Christ. In other words, to become a fool for Christ. We then have come full circle. We’ve gone from foolish to wise and back to foolish again. To learn more about this click here: What It Means to be a Fool for Christ.

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