Daily Devotionals

Voice of the Lord

Devotional: 6th of Av

This brother of yours was dead but has come back to life he was lost but has been found (Luke 15:32).

When the Perushim (Pharisees) and Scribes criticized Yeshua for spending time with "sinners and tax collectors," Yeshua told them a story about two types of teshuvah (repentance).

A father had two sons. The younger one wandered off but finally returned to his father, who joyfully prepared a great feast for the whole household. The older son, who had remained with his father all along, petulantly refused to participate. He was in his father's house but would not join the celebration.

The younger son experienced a "crisis of teshuvah"; he had to change direction completely in order to return to his father. The older son, on the other hand, required a "custom of teshuvah.^" Though he had remained with his father, he had turned away from him in heart. The older son resented his father's forgiveness of his brother and felt that his father owed him for all of his years of faithfulness.

When Yeshua told this story, he did not reveal the ending. The older son represented his critics, and the choice that lay before them was theirs alone. Would they repent, embrace their Father's grace, and enter his joy, or resent what they heard in Yeshua's message and remain without these blessings. The same choice confronts us and all who dwell in our Father's house. We may not require a "crisis of teshuvah.^" We must still follow the "custom of teshuvah" and return in heart to Avinu (our Father) daily.

...return to the Lord in my heart and receive his grace and forgiveness.

RR