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Paradise Dad " in being glad and merry because of your brother's return." He tries to help them understand the way he views His son's return "Think of it, my son, your brother was lost and is found; he has returned alive to us!"' And then He leaves it to the brother of the prodigal son to adjust/accept whatever.
The older brother? Being in the family of God can be rough for those steadfastly, determinedly and humourlessly growing God kids. They do the "right thing", and then what happens? The larks of the family - the indolent ones, the ones who cause their Dad so much sadness have the homecoming parties! This learning to love as our Father loves can be really a shock to our idea of fairness. The universe marches to the beat of a different drum to that of our planet. Mercy comes first and justice a poor second. For the prodigal sons - they earn their maturity hard. They have the need to discover, and know in depth, the wrong way to go before they can appreciate the right way. For the older brothers, they need to learn to "love as our Father loves". Sure they do not get the tears shed, they are too sensible for that. But it would be nice for their Dad if they tried to have His eyes filled with tears of laughter occasionally, rather than have His eyes express sadness at their refusal to understand why and how He loves as He loves.
Perhaps if the older sons declared a truce with the prodigal sons then they could teach the prodigals how to be industrious and accept responsibility, whilst the prodigals taught the older sons to laugh. Then the family would really be a happy one.
God as a Father, is patient and long suffering. He waits a long time for His prodigal sons and daughters to return. He is always on the watch, waiting and hoping for the day.
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