What God Says

◆ Sunday Word

When you are struggling, other voices get loud. Your own. The bill. The empty stretch. The thought that says you have held on long enough and it has not paid. Before you answer any of those, ask the only question that settles a child of God: what does God say?

◆ THE SPEECH HE NEVER FINISHED

Jesus told a story about a son who took his share of the inheritance early, left home, and blew every dime. Then the famine hit. He ended up feeding pigs, hungry enough to eat what they ate.

That's where the loud voices showed up. Luke says "he came to himself," and he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants'" (Luke 15:17-19).

He rehearsed it the whole way home. Every mile, the same speech. Not worthy. Not a son. Just let me work.

Then this: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20).

The son starts the speech. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:21). And that's as far as he gets. He never says the hired-servant line. The father talks right over him: "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet" (Luke 15:22). "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:24).

The son had a speech. The father had the final word.

Some of you have been rehearsing your speech all week. Not worthy. Not enough. Held on too long. Before you finish it, hear what the Father says.

◆ HE SAYS YOU ARE HIS.

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" (1 John 3:1). Not "you might be." So we are. The struggle does not revoke the name. John says the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Being unrecognized is not the same as being unclaimed.

The son said, "no longer worthy to be called your son." The father said, "this my son." Same word. The father's version won.

◆ HE SAYS HIS SPIRIT AGREES WITH THAT NAME.

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). You do not have to talk yourself into the family. The Spirit bears witness. If you are in Christ, the argument is already over. You are a child. Children still hurt. Children still wait. Children do not stop being children because the week is hard.

The son walked home trying to talk his way back in as a servant. The father wasn't listening to the speech. He was already running.

◆ HE SAYS YOU ARE AN HEIR, AND THE PATH INCLUDES SUFFERING.

"And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him" (Romans 8:17). Holding on is not proof you missed God. Paul puts suffering on the same road as glory. The inheritance is not canceled by the stretch you are in.

The robe. The ring. The shoes. Servants went barefoot. Sons wore shoes. The father put the family ring back on a hand that had just come from the pigpen.

◆ HE SAYS HE WILL NOT LET GO.

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28). Your grip gets tired. His does not. Hold fast the confession of your hope, because He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). You hold the confession. He holds you.

The son let go of everything. The father never let go of the son. He saw him "while he was still a long way off." That means he was watching the road.

◆ HE SAYS COME.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Rest here is not quitting the faith. It is taking His yoke and learning His pace (Matthew 11:29). A child who is struggling is still invited to the Father, not sent away to get stronger first.

The son didn't clean up first. He came home smelling like pigs. The father ran anyway.

So when the other voice says you are finished, answer with what God said. You are a child. The Spirit bears witness. The inheritance stands. No one snatches you out of His hand. Come, and learn from Him.

Will you let His Word outrank the loudest thought in the room?

Will you hold the confession because He is faithful?

Will you come to Him as a child, not as someone who has to earn the seat?

Will you let the Father interrupt your speech?

Lord, we are struggling, and we are still Yours. Say again what You already said. We are children. Your Spirit bears witness. No one takes us out of Your hand. We hold the confession. You hold us. Interrupt the speech we've been rehearsing. Teach us Your pace. Give rest to our souls. We trust what You said more than what this week shouted. In Jesus' name, Amen.

If you are holding on by a thread, the thread is not you. Read 1 John 3:1 out loud. That is what God says.

JR Tyndale Ministries