AN INCREDIBLE RETURN POLICY!

Neal Pollard

Now that Christmas day has passed, retailers are beckoning potential customers to come in or log on and get what they "really wanted."  For the next few days and weeks, shoppers will stand in customer service lines with gift receipts (or actual receipts) and either ask to exchange or return their merchandise.  It seems that most businesses have adopted a more generous return policy through the course of time.  But, there is one place whose return policy is unmatched.  

Jesus illustrates this "policy" in a beautiful parable in Luke 15:11-32.  We have dubbed this story the parable of the "prodigal" son.  That term means to spend money and other resources recklessly and wastefully.  The son in this story did just that, meaning it was totally his fault.  There came a point when he wanted to return, and Jesus shows us much about the generous father's "return policy."

There was no receipt necessary.  The father was not keeping record.  He did not ask the boy to account for his inheritance.  He fully accepted this son on the spot.

There were no questions asked.  He did not have caveats or conditions.  There was nothing to sign.  He was welcomed back with open arms.  

There were no time restrictions on when the return could occur.  It is true that the father was anxiously awaiting his return, but he did not turn the boy away for waiting too long.  Truly, if the boy had never returned it would have been too late.  But, the father was not otherwise bound by a calendar or clock.

There was an eagerness for the return to occur.  The father wanted more than anything for the wasteful son to simply come back home.  The son learned that rejection or disallowance was not part of the father's policy.

The most beautiful thing about our Heavenly Father's "return policy" is that it concerns that which never breaks, runs down, fades, or becomes outdated (Mt. 6:19-21; Rev. 7:13-17).  What the prodigal son learned, we should learn, too.  It is never too late, we have never gone too far, and  He will never reject the one who comes to Him on His very fair and just terms.  As long as we have life and breath, we have access to this generous return policy.  There are never long lines or hassles.  Nothing is more valuable than what He gives us when we come home.  That's incredible!

LOST CHILD!

Neal Pollard

Colorado is in the midst of yet another high-profile missing child case, that of Durango's Dylan Redwine.  The problem of lost or abducted children seems to be escalating at an alarming rate.  The latest credible statistics I could find were from a 2002 U.S. Department of Justice study which asserts that nearly 800,000 children under 18 go missing each year, about 2,185 per day.  A fourth of these were abducted by family members, 58,000 by non-family members, and 115 are stereotypical kidnappings (stranger who transport child, demands a ransom, etc.)("National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview," Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer, and Schultz, 10/02, p. 5). The good news, according to FBI statistics, is that roughly 99 percent  of that 800,000 are found through law enforcement efforts.  The bad news, though, is that 8 to 10,000 are not found after lengthy, exhaustive search (cf. Daniel Broughton, Pediatrics Magazine, Vol. 114, No. 4, 10/04, 1100).  As a parent, I find it hard to fathom the depth of anguish and pain for those who lose their children so senselessly and tragically.

Though Luke 15 illustrates spiritual waywardness with a lost sheep and a lost coin, the third and longest parable concerns a lost child.  This child, though older, announced to his father that he was leaving, then departed to parts unknown.  He was lost in a spiritual sense, prodigal or recklessly wasteful.  The Bible describes his time in a distant country as spent in "loose living" (Luke 15:13).  The older brother, however accurately, charged the prodigal son with devouring his wealth with prostitutes (Luke 15:30).  Whatever the particulars, the son freely admitted to having sinned (Luke 15:21).  In celebrating the boy's return, the father twice exclaimed that the boy "was lost and has been found" (Luke 15:24,32).

No parents love their children as deeply, perfectly, and intimately as God loves each of us.  When we become spiritually lost, He grieves and aches more profoundly than we could imagine.  Yet, He does not measure His loss in tens of thousands but in billions.  Most of those who become lost in this way are never found (Matt. 7:13-14).  The Father relies on you and me to help Him rescue and return His lost children!  Or, if we are lost, we should realize how very much He wants us back home!