Live and Let Liveਨਮੂਨਾ

2. From Pigs to Princes (Part 2)

Brotherly Forgiveness

Have you ever seen brothers fight? It can be messy. Maybe you grew up in a house full of boys and understand how playing can become wrestling and how that can become all-out fighting.

The tactics may change as we grow up, but the core of it stays the same. Brothers don’t always get along. And some brothers can become bitter towards each other as well. Especially when you are the brother who puts in the work and doesn’t feel like you’re reaping the reward…

In today’s reading, we find the older, faithful brother, the prince of the household, struggling with welcoming back the younger prodigal brother, who threw his pearls to the pigs. It is not that the oldest son acts like a pig himself, although he still treats his returned brother like one. As the prince of the household, the older brother was entitled, instead of enlightened. He was being indignant instead of inviting.

The older brother just doesn’t seem to realize that the return of his brother does not make him any more or less a prince in his father’s eyes. It doesn’t change the way his father has always felt about and treated him. Everything that belongs to his father has always been and will still be his.

Maybe the older brother forgot that he already had the privilege of being his father’s son. Maybe he forgot that he also had to be forgiven. Maybe he was just offended by how easily his brother was welcomed back, and he was doubtful of his younger sibling’s true motives. Maybe you don’t have brothers, but still, we are all the same. We all sometimes struggle to allow the sun to shine on another. And we all sometimes struggle to accept others.

Some of us might be going strong in our walk with God. We may understand what it means to be princes of God our Father. Yet today, we are not dealing as much with the ‘live’ part of our series as with the ‘let live’ part. Our first steps from being pigs to becoming princes are asking, accepting and understanding God’s forgiveness for ourselves. But next, we ourselves also need to be gracious and merciful princes, reflecting our Father’s rule in our treatment of our brothers (and sisters) in Christ.

When we understand that we have also been forgiven and given the grace to live a Godly life, then we must also come to the full realization that God’s forgiveness is there for others, too. And as such, our forgiveness should also be free to others. Brother, sister, friend, foe, old sinners and new saints. Unlike the prodigal’s older brother, we should be inviting, instead of indignant, to those who’ve gone astray. Not living entitled lives but being enlightened enough in God to let others live in His goodness as well!

So, let’s realize that we were once all prodigals, pigs of the world, who became princes of the Father. And let us then become more inviting brothers, offering shelter in Christ to another, instead of a setting up a shield against them.

Let’s Live a Little…

• In which ways are you often, or at times, also like the older brother?
  Entitled instead of enlightened. Indignant instead of inviting.
• How can you live like a godly prince every day, offering acceptance to everyone and encouraging them to also live in Christ?
• Who is there that God is prompting you to forgive, reconcile with or reconnect with? Pray about it and then obediently go about it as your Father leads you.