Responding to an emergency phone call, I found myself sitting first with a despairing father, and then with his flesh-driven son. I could not dismiss the powerful sense that I was actually in the presence of the father spoken of in Luke 15:11f and the boy who wanted to obtain, and then squander, his inheritance.
The father did not know how to love his son anymore. Affection, and misplaced enabling, have run their courses. The checkbook is overspent, and everything is worse. Affection begs to become Agape. Sourging, not sympathy, is the needed remedy (cf. Hebrews 12).
The son still wants to remain in control of his destiny. "Yeah, I want help...but." The "but" of pride, which slams shut the door on the help that only God can give, and only will be given when control is relinquished.
My bet is on the flesh. It is likely to win in this case, at least in the near term. I didn't sense the boy has come yet to realize how stupid sin is. Sin makes us stupid--all of us. The kindness of God can lead us to repentance once we get sick of sin. Eating pig-slop is humbling.
It is tough to rightly love someone who thinks he/she is in control, though the truth is that he/she is uncontrollably flesh-enslaved. Paul said, "The flesh profiteth nothing." What an understatement!
This is offered to encourage patient, tough love for someone you may know whom you are enabling. Stop it! It's not love. What is needed is fervent prayer for freedom. Christ can set anyone free from everything that enslaves and keeps someone dining with swine. There is a Father who kindly waits for each wandering son to "come to his senses" and brokenly come home. In His open arms are where life begins anew.
PreacherHound
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