You Are Here
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:28-32 (NIV)
For the earlier years of my life, I would spend hours running around in the shopping mall. Why? Because I could never remember where I was in the mall, and to find the store I was looking for, I had to focus on the stores that looked familiar, which would lead me to the store I was looking for. This caused numerous headaches when I confused the store next to the JCPenney store for the store next to the Macy’s (back then it was called Hudsons) store. It is no wonder that youthful exuberance was a thing. Fortunately, either malls got smart or maybe enough customers complained, because they began to place large maps in the middle of shopping aisles, and to help customers know their location, they would place this big dot in the map that simply said, “You are here.” After seeing it, things became quite easy to figure out whether areas of the mall looked familiar or not.
As Christians, it is easy for us to get lost in the shuffle of things. One thing that I have learned is that, like mall shopping, we all need to know where we are. Whether it is with how we are in our personal journey or handling various situations, it is important to acknowledge we may not be where we need to be. We need a reference to figure out not only our present state but also how to get to where our thoughts and intentions are best aligned with Jesus Christ.
God not only finds the lost but also helps those who think they are found realize they might actually be lost. We often focus on the story of the Prodigal son because it clearly illustrates how others are lost in the wilderness, and as followers of Christ, we are charged with helping them find their way through Him. However, there is a saying in professional work that goes, “The hardest person to manage is yourself.” Jesus presents this idea differently, saying, “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3-4)
In the story of the Prodigal Son, many of us are not the younger son. Unfortunately, we often act like the older one. The reality is both sons in this parable fell short of God’s glory. I mention this to acknowledge that while we go spread the word of Christ, Jesus cautions us to be wary of our own path. Just like when driving, it is good to look at all mirrors as well as in front of us to know where we are on the road. Constantly checking our own progress in our journey of faith is crucial. We are destined to make mistakes along the way. That does not mean we are not striving to be like Christ. It means that we are not perfect, and it is important to test ourselves.
If we find ourselves resembling the older son in practice, our job is to learn from the Father’s advice. We should celebrate with joy when one comes to Christ, no matter how far they have come or how troubled their past may be. Jesus seeks a heart filled with grace in us. That is the lesson for us. But before we do all that, we must acknowledge if our actions are closer to the older son or the Father.
Being a follower of Christ comes with many challenges. We are to follow the Greatest Commandment of loving God and others, and the Great Commission making disciples in Jesus’ name among many others. These two go hand in hand as that is what spiritual growth looks like. Sometimes, we are flying along, and others, we think we are doing just fine, when in reality we are just floating by. God does not need us to be Him; He needs us to be like Him. So, let us assess where we are in our journey to become more centered like Jesus Christ. What questions should you ask to better understand your current standing with God? What answers require either a change or action? My prayer is that we take God’s guidance in acknowledging on the map, “You are here.” Amen.