We are all familiar with the parable of the lost son. In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, we are told the story of how this young man demanded from his father his share of the patriarch’s estate and then he departed and took a trip to a distant land. It was there that he wasted all his money on wild living.
The bible teaches us that the young boy persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything.
Many of our young men and boys today grow up not knowing their fathers or who their fathers were, and their lives are empty trying to fill the void by chasing after the things of this world.
They take trips down different avenues trying to find their identity to manhood.
Like the young boy in the parable, young men and boys today are hungry searching to find answers to what it means to be a man on their own (when their fathers are nowhere to be found, they often find themselves distant from their fathers’ love).
Too often our boys do not have anyone to give them guidance, no one to help them with their identity, no one to explain God’s purpose for their life, and no one to teach them what it means to be a man.
So when the doors of hope are shut in their faces, they find the things of the world and take pleasure in them as tools to educate them to manhood.
The bible says, “But no one gave him anything” (vs. 16). The question I partition to all fathers around the metro Jackson area and those who are reading this article, “What can you give to your sons and daughters that no one else can give?”
Give them what your father didn’t give you. Teach them what your father didn’t teach you. Show them the love which you longed for in your life from your father. “What can you give them?” Give them you.
When the young boy in the parable came to his senses, he thought to himself, “At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as hired man” (vs. 17-19)
Not only does the young boy return home to his father, but his father welcomes him back home.
The bible also tells us, “The father was filled with love and compassion, and he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him (vs. 20).
What our young men and boys need most in their lives today is their father’s embrace. Your sons and daughters long to embrace your love; long to embrace your compassion; long to embrace your forgiveness and they long to be held in your arms of grace.
Real fatherhood is showing God’s forgiveness no matter who walked away from whom. Men, if we are honest with ourselves, many of us long for our father’s embrace. So, on this Father’s Day, embrace your sons and daughters and tell them how much you love them.
About the Pastor
Rev. James Griffin is the pastor of New Beginning Christian Fellowship, located at 29820 Hwy 468 in Pearl.
Worship service is held every Sunday at 10:30 a. m., and Bible study every Tuesday at 6:30 p. m.
Rev. Griffin is the husband of Juanita Griffin and they are the parents of three children: James Sterlen, Jamya Alexus and John Issac
For more information about New Beginnings or to speak with the pastor, call 601-932-4444.
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