How God Loves You Part 3

The well-known parable of The Prodigal Son is a good example of how God loves you.

It tells the story of an ungrateful son who does the unthinkable – asks for his inheritance before his father has even died – and it describes an amazing father. The father actually grants the unkind and selfish request.

The son takes his inheritance, leaves the family home, and spends the whole lot on wild living.

Then in his eventual poverty realises that he would actually have been better off at his father’s home after all – even if just as a servant. So he resolves to go home and beg forgiveness.

A father in any day and age could be reasonably expected to deal with such a son severely after such an escapade – if only it was a lifetime of ‘I told you so’s.

But this father responds in an unexpected way. He immediately offers forgiveness, boundless love, great riches, and his previous place back in the heart of the family. Demonstrating to the prodigal son and everyone else the boundless love his father has for him.

The father did not have to give so much. He could have easily asked for justice from a son who had betrayed and humiliated him. But instead, because the son returns in humility, he showers him with love and riches – he offers mercy and grace.

The father, of course, in this parable portrays the love and grace of God demonstrating that he forgives all who truly change their ways, however bad they might have been.

The ungrateful son represents us – humankind. The son did not deserve the father’s bountiful grace and love, nor do we. You can read more about the Parable of the Prodigal Son here.

The three articles below in this series offer examples of the ways in which God loves us:

Part 2 Les Miserables; Part 3 The Prodigal Son; Part 4 The Workers in the Vineyard