OzThoughts – Monday 4th May, 2009

OzThoughts – Monday 4th May, 2009

[Apologies for late posting of this OzThougts but it is a Public Holiday in Queensland and I have been away from my computer]

Night after night the television news shows road accidents where people are either seriously injured or have lost their life. Often the follow up to the story will show a police officer or a politician pleading with drivers to take care and slow down.

Any long drive, will reveal police officers standing beside the road with a radar speed gun or reveal speed recording cameras set up alongside the road. The results of these police officers’ work hurts the speeding driver in the bank account and also adds demerit points to the drivers score. It is an a tempt to get drivers to drive responsibility with care for themselves, their passengers and other road users.

The story of the Prodigal Son told by Jesus demonstrates the “personal responsibility” we have in our lives. The son made his own choices. Firstly, to leave home and live as he wanted then to return home and come under the benefits of his father’s household.

Spiritually, Jesus illustrated by this story, we have personal responsibility. We live or die by the choices we make.

John’s Gospel in the well known chapter says:

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. 20Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. 21But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is." (John 3:16-21 (The Message).

Before thy face, dear Lord,
Myself I want to see;
And while I every question sing,
I want to answer thee.

Chorus
While I speak to thee,
Lord, thy goodness show;
Am I what I ought to be?
O Saviour, let me know.

Am I what once I was?
Have I that ground maintained
Wherein I walked in power with thee,
And thou my soul sustained?

Have I a truthful heart,
A conscience keen to feel
The baseness of a false excuse,
The touch of aught unreal?

Have I the zeal I had
When thou didst me ordain
To preach thy word and seek the lost,
Or do I feel it pain?

O Lord, if I am wrong,
I will not grieve thee more
By doubting thy great love and power
To make and keep me pure.
Author: Herbert Howard Booth (1862-1926)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 409
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Luke 15:11-32 (The Message)

11Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. 12The younger said to his father, "
Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'
"So the father divided the property between them. 13It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. 14After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. 15He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. 16He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17"That brought him to his senses. He said, "All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. 18I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him,
Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' 20He got right up and went home to his father.
"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son started his speech: "
Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, "Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 24My son is here--given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.
25"All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. 27He told him, "Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast--barbecued beef!-because he has him home safe and sound.'
28"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. 29The son said, "Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? 30Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'
31"His father said, "Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours-- 32but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!'"
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