“Christ suffered and died for sins once and for all—the innocent for the guilty —to bring you near to God by His body being put to death and by being raised to life by the Spirit.”1 Peter 3:18 TPT. “Be very careful then, how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every day because the days are evil.”Ephesians 5:15-16.

Jesus Christ lived for His Father’s glory and will. At the same time our precious Heavenly Father provided a way for each of us to live before we were even born. But all of mankind was found guilty of falling short of the standard Christ lived out and set before us. So Father God allowed Jesus to suffer and be brutally murdered for the things we’ve done, even though Christ was utterly innocent. As we live day by day we are covered by His precious blood, from the moment we said yes to having Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. However, I have a word of warning …when we use His grace to live for US …we are squandering our inheritance.

In the bible there is this great parable that almost everybody knows –  it’s about the Prodigal Son.  The thing is:  you and I – if we are not prayerfully careful – can also be that prodigal son! … “Whadda mean lady… I’m a Christian! I’ve been baptised, I go to church, I pray, I talk to God, God forgave me from all my sins.” …Yeah, yeah, hold your horses … I’m getting to it … I didn’t like that thought much either!  

Think on this: the prodigal son in this parable was already a legitimate SON and heir!  He was already eligible to inherit His Father’s riches. But he took everything His Father gave him, and he went off and squandered it all. He used his inheritance to LIVE AND DO whatever he wanted. That younger son went and lived just like the pagans around him. He threw away what was rightfully his, on stuff that was going to gratify him … here and now… 😳

I asked the Holy Spirit: “Lord what does that all that mean?” He said this: “When you use MY GRACE to excuse yourself, instead of repenting and repairing things in your life, you are squandering your inheritance. My Son gave His life to pay for your sins, it was not cheap! My Grace is available to anyone who asks for it, but I have not given it freely to you so you can do what you like, and say what you like, and then presumptuously expect the Precious blood of Jesus to cover it. That’s abuse of a very great privilege.”

Then He asked me this: “When was the prodigal restored?” I said: “The prodigal was restored when he repented. When this young man recognised, in a pig pen, that the son and heir does not belong in a pig pen! He remembered his father’s generous ways toward even the servants of his household. And then he used his faith to go home. He didn’t expect the kind of welcome he got, because unfortunately, he did not actually know his father’s ways very well at all.” 

You know, we could easily all be labelled prodigals, if we are using our privileges, our heavenly inheritance, to benefit US. As I have said before, our God is not a vending machine. We are in a relationship with Him, not just a supply and demand arrangement. Our heart’s position toward His Grace and loving provision matters. We dare not take advantage of His Grace by living this life we have been GIVEN, counting on the fact that He will forgive us — without cultivating reverential fear toward His ways. And the Holy Spirit has given us a book full of what His ways look like. 

The prodigal son in this parable had no reverence for his father’s position as the leader of the household. He just wanted what he wanted, and then went and did whatever suited him. His father exercised a tremendous amount of faith in his boy coming home again, as he waited for him every single day. Our heavenly Father’s Love waits patiently for us to realise the error of our ways and come home from the pig pens of this world. And we don’t have to go gambling, or into drug dens, or strip joints to sin against His Grace. We cannot afford to devalue something that was so incredibly costly. Let’s remember – GOD DEFINES SIN – we don’t!

We need to value and treasure what we have been given, every single day. Jesus died to bring us into relationship with Almighty God. He gave us His inheritance. We must not take it for granted that God will fix our messes as we merrily wander along creating chaos. Our mess is our responsibility! We are so blessed because He is faithful, He promises to help us. We need to learn, on purpose, to live this life as Christ lived His — for God’s glory and His will. Babies expect to be waited on and cleaned up, mature adults own their own faults and work toward reparation. Bye 👋