Living in the Father's house

A daily life, not a comeback moment, and what to do when you fall again. Come back the same way, every time.

The story ends with the father talking to the elder brother. But one line he says is meant for both sons, and for you.

Scripture — Luke 15:31–32 (OTB)

“Son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. But it was necessary to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was as if he was dead but now he is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

You are always with me. The goal of coming home isn’t a single emotional moment on the road. It’s living in the house, day after day, with the Father.

A daily life anyone can keep

Most people who drift away didn’t lose faith in one day. They lost the daily rhythm first. So the way back includes a daily rhythm, and it has to be simple enough that you’ll actually keep it on a bad week. Here is one you can start tomorrow. It’s the same way this whole library teaches people to read the Bible, and it rests on one picture: food.

Eat it. Pick a short passage, a story or a few verses. Read it. Read it again. Then retell it in your own words, out loud or on paper, without looking. If you can’t retell it, read it again until you can. The retelling is how you know you’ve actually taken it in.

Digest it. Ask four questions:

What does this teach me about God?
What does it teach me about people, and about me?
What will I obey? (Write it as I will… with a day on it.)
Who will I tell?

Grow. This last part isn’t something you do. It’s what God does with what you’ve eaten.

Scripture — 1 Corinthians 3:6–7 (OTB)

I planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who caused the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is of significance, but only God, who brings about the growth.

This is the same truth as the whole class, in daily form. You eat and digest. The Spirit does the growing. Over weeks and months you’ll notice changes you didn’t produce, and couldn’t have.

Where to start? Luke is a good book to read a story at a time. Or begin with Luke 15 itself and read it again, now that you know it’s about you.

When you fall again

You will. Not because you’re uniquely weak, but because you’re human, and the Spirit’s work in you is real and also takes time. So settle now what you’ll do when it happens, while you’re thinking clearly.

Come back the same way you came the first time. Honestly. Quickly. To a Father who is watching the road. Don’t hide for a week, or a month, trying to feel sorry enough first. Don’t write a new hired-servant speech. Confess what’s true (1 John 1:9), tell your mentor or trusted friend (James 5:16), and get back to the next thing He’s told you to do.

Remember Proverbs 24:16: the righteous fall seven times and rise again. The rising is what you practice.

Tell someone

The father said it was necessary to celebrate. Stories of coming home are meant to be told. Somewhere near you is someone else in the far country, and your honest account of the road home, not a sermon, just your story, may be the first thing that tells them the Father is watching for them too.

Where next

If you’ve walked these seven chapters, a natural next step is the class Walking with Jesus, which lays out the beliefs and practices of a disciple’s life one at a time, including prayer, the Word, sin, the cross and belonging to one another.

Recite this

Come back the same way, every time.

Try it this week

Choose a start date and a time of day, and begin the Eat, Digest, Grow rhythm with one short passage a day. Then decide in advance who you’ll call the next time you fall, and tell them now that you’ve chosen them.

I will start reading every ________________ at ________________, and the person I’ll call when I fall is ________________.