Notice the father of the prodigal son allowed him to wallow in the pit until he was repentant, changed his mind about his sin and came back to confess his sin, humbly asking to be counted as a servant, rather than a full fledged son.
He was restored fully as a son, but came back not expecting that, because he knew what he really deserved. This is the mentality we should have in ourselves and should see in others when we have sinned. Admitting the sin, confessing what the sin is and accepting whatever the response is from those we offended.
The offended parties should forgive quickly, desiring for the relationship to be restored.
This account of the prodigal son and his father is a picture of our Father in heaven and us as the prodigals. We should be ashamed of our sin, never defending or excusing it, but rather broken over it, broken enough to be willing to be treated whatever way we deserve.
Anyone making excuses, expecting to be fully restored and angry when we do not receive the expected response, then it is a sure sign we are not sorry, our mind has not been changed, we are just tired of the struggle and want everything back that we lost.
Luke 15:11-32
Don't forget, there was more than one prodigal in this story. There was the jealous and rebellious son that stayed, but remained disobedient, even though he never left. It was really a story of the two prodigal sons.
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