When Fathers Run.

On last night, my wife and I stayed up to watch a program that aired on a particular Christian network that was featuring two dynamic leaders who arguably have had the greatest impact on my life. The primary focus of the program was to discuss the importance of re-establishing a connection between fathers and sons; not simply in the arena of family, but specifically in the arena of ministry.

For approximately 90 minutes, we watched as these leaders, along with other great guests, shared their passion to see leaders and pastors awaken to the importance of seeking out a spiritual covering to operate and grow under. They concluded that in the hearts of many leaders there is a seed of rebellion that is being nurtured through a desire to succeed and conquer life as individuals.

In short, they believe it is time for sons to come home.
And I could not agree with them more.

As what many would label as an ‘emerging’ leader, I have had the opportunity to mix and mingle with many leaders my age and younger who have become dissatisfied with where they are in ministry, and have begun to lean hard into the unknown. While some believe wholeheartedly that their decisions to launch out are God-inspired, there are also some who are honest enough to admit that their decisions to launch out are deeply rooted in what they perceived to be a father’s failure to launch.

Now more than ever before, new ministries and churches are being forming out of the pain of unfulfilled sons, rather than out of the joy of fulfilled fathers, who have come to the conclusion that the sons and daughters they have raised are ready to receive an inheritance, and be planted elsewhere.

And as last night’s program alluded to, this growing trend will continue to delay the blessings that are in store for sons when they refuse to ‘turn their hearts back to their fathers’ (see Malachi 4:5v).

However, as a son, and now as a father of three, there was only one thing that troubled me after watching the program. In fact, it troubled me so that I stayed up through the night reading over a familiar passage of scripture to us all, which is found in Luke 15:

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

Any of this sound familiar? Yep, it is from the parable of the lost son. The prodigal son.
Arguably one of my favorite stories in the entire Bible. So why did I seek this passage out?

What is it about this passage (and the program I finished watching) that kept me up all night?
The answer is below:

And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring[a] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

I’ve always wondered at how Jesus chose to unwrap this story. Here we find a son, who because of his desire for what was ahead of him, making a decision to disconnect with what was behind him. A decision that cost him everything.

However, when the son discovers that his decision to leave was incorrect, Jesus said that he ‘came to himself’ and ‘arose’ to come back home to his father. But what is interesting about this story is what happens next. When the father saw his son ‘a great way off’ – he RAN to meet his son.

He ran.

He did not wait for his son to fully return.
He did not wait for His son to issue an apology.

He ran.

While I wholeheartedly believe that more sons need to arise and return back to reconnect to the hearts of fathers, I also believe that there is a responsibility for fathers to RUN. What many fathers fail to realize is that many of their sons have been walking back home for quite some time. However, the length of the road that separates where they are and where their fathers STAND may often give the impression that the process of reconciliation has not begun.

And since many sons have yet to see their fathers RUNNING…
…many have turned and selected to walk down a different path.

Using a different bridge.

Related posts:

1. The Quest For Maturity.
2. Christmas Sabbath.
3. The Customer.
4. Feeding Enemies.
5. Rest vs. Sleep.

Category: Church & Ministry, Life & Faith