“And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”~ Lk. 15:21
The number 1 difference between the Prodigal and his brother was the former blamed himself and the latter blamed someone else, his brother. The Prodigal immediately got out of the mess he was in after placing the blame squarely on his own shoulders, while his self-righteous brother stayed in the miserable condition he was in. He had never learned the lyrics to the song, “It’s not my brother … but me, O Lord.”
You can’t change people or circumstances, but you can change. And that is the victory that overcometh! Blaming others or circumstances can be traced all the way back to our original parents, Adam and Eve. He said it was her fault. She, that it was the devil’s doing. God accepted neither’s lame excuse. Both had to pay for their individual choices. Better had it been they had, “Fessed-up.”
A bum was sleeping off a drunken stupor in a back alley. Some kids rubbed some old moldy Limburger cheese under his nose into the whiskers. Upon waking he took a deep breath, then said, “This alley stinks.” Going to the local park, sitting on a bench, again taking a deep breath blurted out, “The whole world stinks.” Such people never think it could be them that has, and is, the problem.
Good repenters do not generally stay in a wretched condition for very long.
Although my homeland is not one of Christianity, in our age most of us were taught to blame ourselves. Not anymore, the new generation was taught to blame their parents and everything else.
After reading this lesson, I have given myself an ongoing homework assignment to begin working on immediately. Thank you so much.