Last night, I was listening to a message by Tim Keller called “The Prodigal Sons” which I put up on the nomad page over at Eternity because I think it is absolutely spot on.

Here’s the problem: I fit both descriptions of both sons that were lost. I am the guy who can very easily decide to go my own way and walk away from the Father only wanting His stuff but not Him (The younger brother) and I am also the guy who gets mad when the Father doesn’t punish those who fit my description of goodness (The older brother). Here’s an excerpt:

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not religion, nor irreligion. It’s not morality or immorality. It’s not moralism or relativism. It’s off the scale. It’s not halfway in the middle. It’s something else. And now you see what Jesus is saying about sin. Now you see how different it is. There’s two ways to be your own savior and Lord. Just like there were two different ways to get control of the Father’s stuff. One son tried to get control of the father’s stuff not loving the father but trying to use father to get what he wanted. But the other son tries to control the father’s stuff by living a very, very, very good life.”

I am guilty of both. And so are you. I strongly encourage you to listen to the whole thing.