All That I Have Is Yours
I watched a show the other day about a dad who took his son to the high school’s championship basketball game. The son was embarrassed to sit with his dad and even more embarrassed to have his dad sit with him and his friends, so they sat by themselves… so sad. I began to think about this a lot. Maybe it’s because I’m a dad now and it got me thinking about my own children and my relationship with them.
What if I took my child to a basketball game? When we got there I gave them the choice to sit with me or go and sit with their friends. What if they chose to sit with me, not reluctantly, but willingly? And what if they even went and got their friends and asked them to come sit with “their dad”? How blessed I would be to have that kind of fellowship with my child that they would desire to draw near to me and even bring their friends to join in the sweet fellowship. I’ll tell you what, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t give from my abundance to that child, to have willingly chosen to sit with their dad.
This also got me thinking about the Lord and our relationship with Him. The Lord gives us the choice to “sit” with Him or go “sit” with our friends, aka the world. If we willingly chose to draw near to Him does He not also have a Father’s heart that says, “What I have is yours.”
Which also got me thinking about the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). When the older son was complaining about the party being thrown for his recently repentant brother his father responded with this, “Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Wow! ALL THAT IS MINE IS YOURS. The older son should have been grateful to see his brother return and even his father pointed out to him that he didn't get a raw deal. While his younger brother was squandering his time, etc., the older brother had all that the father had.
God will not make us sit reluctantly with him. We can choose to sit with “our friends” instead of Him. But we would be foolish to take what the world has to offer, when we could have what the Father freely gives. What has He given us? His forgiveness, Jesus, His Holy Spirit, His Word, His peace, His love, His FELLOWSHIP, His mercy, His grace, an eternity with Him (where there is no pain and suffering), the list goes on and on and on.
Let us draw near to God who is not only the TRUTH, but the PERFECT FATHER.
[My hope is that you do not misinterpret what I am saying as a call to fulfill the lust of the flesh. However, I do not want us to shy away from the fact that our Father does bless us. This should cause us to bring glory to His name not to focus on self.]