We Cannot Place Limits On God’s Love And Forgiveness

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Lord teaches us that we cannot dictate the terms of our repentance. The prodigal son reached a turning point when he was considering eating from the pigs’ trough and remembered that even the servants in his father’s household ate better than this. It is clear that he felt deep remorse for the way that he demanded his inheritance from his father, but it seems even as he “came to himself”, he was still considering his own hunger over his father’s happiness. In part he was returning because he knew in his father’s house there was bread to be had, and even if he no longer was worthy to be called son, perhaps he could still earn that bread. We can see that he had still not gotten over his original sin of breaking up his family. He had in effect declared his father dead when he demanded his inheritance, and now as he came back, he was still unwilling to accept that this broken family bond might be mended and was still holding to the belief that he was no longer his father’s son. But his father would have none of it. He would not allow his son to place limits on his love or his forgiveness. King Benjamin said “that if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.” The Lord doesn’t want unprofitable servants. He wants His sons and His daughters back. If we are to repent, if we are to come unto Him, we can hold nothing back - nothing back from ourselves, and nothing back from Him. He wants us to give Him all of our love and time and devotion because He plans on giving us all of His love and time and devotion. We owe ten thousand talents - we’re never going to pay that back. Not by joining on as servants and not by going out and beating ourselves up for a hundred pence. God just wants us to come home as His children. His love and His forgiveness and His blessings are not to be bought or earned or borrowed. They are to be accepted with a grateful and humble heart. The parable is about a prodigal son, not a prodigal servant. We wound our Heavenly Father deeply when we declare Him dead and go off on our own, but all it takes is for us to return home and accept His grace and allow Him to call us once more His children. The Lord will not allow us to place limits on His forgiveness, so let us with all humility accept His infinite grace and put on the best robe and the ring on our finger and shoes on our feet and accept our place in our Father’s house as His Sons and Daughters.