Bi-Attitude

Luke 15:31 (KJV) And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

(Proverbs 10 also read)

In worship this morning, my mind went to the prodigal son.  One of the parts of that parable that always stands out to me is how the older son gets a bad rap.  Everyone labels him as the legalistic, works-salvation heretic.  I tend to get a little different view on that but what does stand out to me is that he did have a problem.

The older son did have an attitude problem, but we need to understand.  It was an attitude problem that went two ways.  First he had the problem of not wanting the best for his brother.  He did not love.  Love involves forgiveness.  It involves wanting the best for other people, and being willing to put them ahead of yourself.  He needed an attitude check.

The second failure was was his refusing to celebrate in his own life the fact that he was a child of the father.  He worked hard.  That is good.  He was faithful.  That was good.  At the same time he did not grasp the inheritance that he had.

I think that I am guilty of both of these.  I have long been aware of the need to work on the first.  It is the second that needs more focus at this point in my life.

So?  Celebrate the gifts of God in your life.  You can start with salvation.  That should keep you going for a while, but when that winds down, you can go to family, living in America, food on the table, and you can take it as far as you want.  Rejoice.