March 31 - The Problem of Prodigals

 Read today’s texts first: Judges 9,10; Psalms 49; 1 Corinthians 16

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

We should spend quality and quantity time with our
children, but ultimately they must choose to
follow Jesus for themselves.

There’s a disturbing trend among great leaders in the Bible. Despite their successes in leading God’s people, they didn’t always have success in raising their own families. Today’s OT reading features Abimilech, who didn’t exactly make his father Gideon proud by killing all his brothers so he could be next in line for the throne. Other leaders coming up soon in our readings had similar problems: Samuel’s sons were too corrupt to follow him (1 Samuel 8:1-5), David’s sons tried to usurp his throne from him (1 Kings 1; 2 Samuel 15-18), Hezekiah’s son Manasseh undid every good thing his father had done (2 Kings 21), and so on and so on.

These illustrations of OT prodigals help me understand two things. First, as leaders, our highest priority is to lead our families in the faith. Paul said that one of the main qualifications to look for in choosing an elder is proven success in managing his own household. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church? (1 Tim. 3:4,5). I remember one particular pastor’s conference when a pastor stood up and addressed his colleagues with this statement: “my church comes before my wife and my children.” Tragically, his wife had left him before next year’s conference, and a year later he was no longer a pastor. Misplaced priorities are costly. Our Abimilechs and Manassehs can undermine much of the good we spend our whole lives to accomplish.

But I have another observation that may help those of us who are trying to lead our families well and yet still have prodigals at home. Have you noticed that God, our Father, also has a lot of prodigals. Jesus picked Judas. Paul, who likely had no children of his own, struggled with his spiritual children, as we can see throughout his letter to the Corinthians. Pet theologies aside, free will is something we cannot control. We can and should spend quality and quantity time with our kids, model integrity, preach without words, fast, and pray for them, but ultimately our children must choose to follow Jesus for themselves. We cannot make that choice for them.

“Lord, the problem of prodigals will always be with us because You want us to love You of our own free will. I choose to do that today and I pray for my children and grandchildren that they would make that choice too!”