Christian Living

Dread Is Deceptive

by Terry Barlow
07/06/16
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In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke Chapter 15 of the New Testament,  it’s important to see that it wasn’t only the younger son who went astray, but the older son did also in a different way.  The younger son strayed outwardly and more noticeably in a dissipated life style, the older one inwardly and probably more subtly in sourness of attitude.  Neither son was acting as a true son to the father, neither was really WITH the father though one had been physically near him.  The older son because of deep-seated resentment (see Amplified Version of Bible) could not identify with the father’s joy at the return of the younger son.  He was as distant and alienated from the desire of his father’s heart as his younger brother had been physically distant and reveling in the far country.  All of this is not to say that the father in such a situation would have been perfect in his dealings, except that in the parable he represents our Heavenly Father who is in fact  perfect in all His ways.

Though the older brother had been doing and, until the return of his brother, saying many of the right things, bitterness had been brewing in his heart toward his brother and his father.  He seemed to dread the reunion with his brother and having to watch his father and the others interact with him .  Yet if had chosen, out of love  for his father, to yield to his father’s wish and had humbled himself to join the celebration dread and all, he might have been surprised.  He might have seen his brother in a new light and experienced him in a new way, more as his father saw and experienced him.  He might have found himself actually enjoying his presence and company.  His brother had, after all, been transformed by all that had recently happened to him.

Dread in itself is not a very reliable indicator of what is soon to come to pass.  Just as something we have long looked forward to can baffle us and prove to be a disappointment, so can some occasion we have been dreading prove unexpectedly to be a delight, if we don’t run from it and if we allow it to stretch and challenge us.  We find then that our hearts and lives have grown larger and more inclusive and responsive through the experience.