Sarah Nyhan

I’ve been thinking and thinking about that story of the prodigal.

The point that trips me up is that the Father didn’t go looking for the prodigal. He ran to embrace the prodigal after the prodigal headed back to the Father. I’ve always been taught that means we are not “saved” from our sins until we repent and turn back to God.

But I was thinking today, maybe it isn’t a story about whether we are saved from our sins but rather a story about being able to fully experience Whose we already are? Because the Father never stopped considering the prodigal his son, correct? Even the son still considered himself a son. The prodigal was always the Father’s child – even while fully embracing iniquity.

We separate ourselves from the benefits of what He has done for us. And He has to let us do it so we can see Him and ourselves in truth. But at no point did our legal, for lack of a better word, standing change with Him.