Have you ever read a familiar Bible story slowly enough for the Holy Spirit to show you something you had missed? I have been studying the Gospel of Luke since last November, taking my time instead of reading simply to finish. As I reflect on each parable or story, it begins to unfold in my own life and often helps me see my own heart more clearly.
This morning, I want to share something from Volume Three of my book, Grasped by Grace, titled “Celebrate the Healing.” Right off the bat, I ask: Do you enjoy seeing someone experience healing? Then I ask another question: What about healing in relationships? Do you enjoy seeing that happen too?
Maybe someone you know reconciled with a person who had left a bad taste in your mouth. Maybe two friends reunited after a painful disagreement. The situation may be different, but you get the picture, and perhaps someone has already come to mind. I am not referring to unhealthy relationships, so please do not misunderstand my point.
In this devotional, I write about overhearing an acquaintance discuss a difficult family situation. Some relatives who had been separated by conflict had begun speaking again. As the woman shared, however, I could hear the resentment in her voice.
Although I silently questioned her attitude, I later began to question my own responses in similar situations.
This story came to mind again because I am studying Luke 15 this week, and, boy, oh boy, there is so much in these stories! The chapter moves from the lost sheep to the lost coin and then to the lost son. I will remain in these stories for another week or two, so I know I am only getting started. Yet one theme stood out to me early this morning: rejoicing. In verses 5–6, the shepherd rejoices over the sheep he found. In verse 9, the woman rejoices over the coin she found. And in verses 23–24, the father rejoices over the son who returned home. Who wouldn’t rejoice and make merry over these things?
If “make merry” is an outward expression and “be glad” is an inward response, the older brother was neither, as his reaction makes clear.
The sheep and the coin demonstrate a vertical reality: God seeks and restores the lost. The son demonstrates a horizontal reality: a broken relationship is restored. But the older brother paints a vivid picture of the Pharisees, whose attitudes Jesus had been exposing as He built toward this chapter. Luke brings this out so well in his account to Theophilus.
Here is the part that challenged me: the Pharisee in us appears when we believe that keeping the rules earns us something from God. It appears when we think He owes us because we have “been good,” or when we are motivated by something other than love. Legalism kills empathy, that is a fact. The older brother was already living in abundance, with access to everything his heart desired. Yet instead of celebrating what his brother had received, he focused on what he wanted and did not have in that moment.
This brought me back to the family whose relationship had been healed in the story I shared. It reminded me that it is good to examine what is in our hearts when we see others rejoicing and experiencing happiness.
We never learn whether the older brother changed his attitude, but the story leaves us with a reminder to examine our own.
Our response to someone else’s “good thing” says a great deal about what is in our hearts. When someone experiences healing, restoration, or happiness, do we celebrate with them, or do we respond like the older brother?
I would love to hear your thoughts about any of these stories, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, or even the older brother. Has God shown you something through one of them? You are also welcome to share a struggle, a fault, or a response in your own heart that He has helped you recognize. I share my own faults because that is what Grasped by Grace is about: honestly seeing where we fall short while celebrating the grace of God that continues to change us. Let’s learn from one another, not with judgment, but with grace.
Selah…
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