Luke 15:7 in the same way there is more joy in Heaven when one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over the ninety-nine others who are righteous and have not strayed away.
My Thoughts
I read this and had my moment of complete understanding, finally! My heart almost jumped out of my chest. Twenty minutes later and I still feel giddy with excitement! I read this verse, with understanding, finally and immediately thought of the story of the Prodigal Son and his brother the good son who was so jealous and upset when his brother got a party when he cam home....then there in the next verses was that story. Like a confirmation of my truth. I have always read this verse and seen the story of the Prodigal Son as "not fair." But I was looking at it a not have angel instead of an all that I have angle! I actually have tears in my eyes.
I am so reluctant to share this because I don't think I can put it into words good enough to fully explain the truth if this story. If you look at these statements from a "look what I didn't get" angle all you see is the celebration of the person that choose wrong over right...no wonder I would see it as not fair. But if you look at it from a "look at all I have" angle you see so many blessings. How often do we rob ourselves of the joy of our blessings with jealousy? Wow!
When you look at theses verses from the "look at all I have" angle here is what you will see. In the story of the Prodigal Son the "bad son" went out and had a big party... Then he reaped the consequences of that... Which was probably lots of guilt, loss of "friends" when the money was spent, many sleepless nights wondering where the next meal was coming from, wondering where he was going to sleep. The good son didn't see all the story, only the parts that looked good. All along the good son has good nights of sleep from hard work and peace of mind from living right, he has wealth building up, he had a warm bed...and there is no telling how many "goats" worth if stew and steak he had to fill his body. He spent his days working hard and his nights the way he wanted to..with family and close friends. He didn't even want a party. He all along had every thing he wanted. He all along was spending his days the way that he enjoyed. And if he had not gotten jealous, he would have enjoyed the overflow of the blessings that his brother received at the party! After all his brother could only eat until he was full and the good brother could have too, eaten until he was full...enjoyed the overflow of blessings. The bad son didn't have his cake and get to eat it too...he had his cake and wallered in the shame of it all and with the pigs. The good son had his cake...and could have celebrated with more if only he had not got jealous. He robbed himself of the joy of the blessings all around him because he would not open his eyes to what he had.
The righteous people from the verse above have been living in the rejoicing of God all along. They get the excitement of each celebration if they choose to join in the celebrations. They have all along lived in the blessings of God, in the joy of God's love... How much bigger can more joy feel? We can choose to bask in the joy of others and let our hearts feel full... And enjoying the overflow of the joy of others. Or we can dump our baskets of blessings on the ground and forget they ever existed. We only loose out in that overflowing of joy when we step back into the sin of jealousy...we can cast a shadow over the blessings we have been living in all along.... Sometimes so dark that we forget we ever had joy. Jealousy can rob you of blessing that you have already lived through. We have a choice... To see the good, the amazing blessings God gives us... recognize those blessings and know that if God has given us those blessings He will be giving us more...celebrating the blessing of others and get blessing from their overflow. Of we can choose to let jealousy cast such a shadow that we don't even see the blessings that abound in our lives.
I feel full with joy...amazingly full with joy at the blessing of understanding.
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