Contributed by Pastor Ken Van Tuyl

The series of parables related in Luke 15 all speak to the eternal perspective of a sinner who repents – once lost, now found. But the crescendo of them all is the father’s response to the return of his prodigal son. The son who ‘wasted his substance with riotous living’ (v. 13) and who was in the midst of physical famine when he ‘came to himself.’ (v. 17) When he had fully expended his futile and selfish wiles and wishes and found they added up to nothing, he knew where he could turn – his father. Though he thought all bridges of the relationship were broken – ‘I am no more worthy to be called thy son’ – he underestimated his father’s heart. (v. 21)

Despite all of his son’s foolishness and rebellion, there was never a day the father didn’t long for restoration and relationship with his son; the heart of a parent, and more- so our heavenly Father, can never abandon the love for a child, no matter where the choices of that child may lead. Consider Jesus’ speaking of the eternal perspective of repentance, He says ‘there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.’ (v. 7)

It is intentional to emphasize the word ‘one.’ You may make many decisions today – but there may be one decision that spreads like the proverbial ripples of the water from a rock thrown into a pond. One decision that can lead you far away from intimacy and relationship with our Savior – one decision that could lead to ‘wasted living,’ and result in famine deep in your soul. Jesus remarked about one decision – the fork in the road every believer must consider daily:

Enter in through the narrow gate, for wide the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction and many are they who enter in through it; For narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leads to life, and they are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14

What one key decision are you facing today? Does it lead to deeper trust and devotion and worship of Jesus Christ? Is it though the ‘narrow’ gate of His love and wisdom and will? Somewhere in the prodigal son’s heart he made one choice one day – and it compounded into further decisions that eventually found him at the pig’s trough.

Perhaps you regret one decision you’ve made recently; you went through a ‘wide and broad way’ that has led you far from the Father’s house. The one decision you must make is to repent – return in brokenness and confession; you may have sorrows to contend with, but the restoration of a true and close walk with Jesus cannot be compared with anything this world has to offer. Jesus told the rich young ruler that there was one thing he lacked, one thing he needed to do…is there one thing in your life where God the Holy Spirit has been speaking and you have ignored Him? Wait no more – the Father is anticipating your one choice to believe in His Son to obedience and blessing.