Coming To Your Senses

The most powerful thing that can happen to a human being is that they come to their senses. That’s what happened to me. I was living life my way, making it up as I went. And then I came to my senses and realized, after the Word and the light coming to me, I was dying out here. I was supposed to be having all this fun, but instead I was empty, locked in that prison of false freedom. The way to the Father was made through the Son, Jesus, to come home, to be safe, to find a place to belong, to be covered, to be secure. Religion wants you to pay for your mistakes, but the Father, if He sees us coming back, comes running and lets everybody know, “She’s my daughter. He’s my son. They belong to me!”

This is the Father who rescued me. This is the Father who’s inviting every man, woman, guy, baby’s mama, baby’s daddy, executive, musician, athlete, whomever, to have their identity and everything else transformed. When I turned, He covered me with His love, and it changed everything. When I stayed close to Him, He brought me home. The Father didn’t make me a servant. He didn’t let anybody condemn me.

Take the story of the prodigal son. The darkness made perfect sense to him. “I’m not going to wait on you, Dad. Give me what’s mine, now. I have a plan.” In that ancient culture those words and actions were like saying, “Dad, you’re dead to me. You don’t matter.” It was fatherless no more in reverse. “What matters to me is what I want the world to see about me. I got this, Dad. I’m riding in the wind with the top down, speakers banging with all the latest music. I got the girls. I got the party because I got money.” It made perfect sense to him. But he lost his soul when he left his Father, and he was living in darkness when it ran its course.

You know the rest of the story. It’s recorded in Luke chapter 15. The NIV says he “squandered” and “began to be in need” (vv. 13-14). Finding ourselves in need, emotionally or physically, is not the worst thing that could happen to us. In fact, it can be the best thing. After it got so bad for the prodigal and he was faced with eating with the pigs, the Bible says, “He came to his senses” (v. 17). Nothing will wake you up like eating with the pigs. It jolted him to his senses.

God uses the darkness to push us toward the light. So what did he do? He thought about what he gave up. He thought about how good his father was and how much different life was under his father’s roof, living in the boundaries, the acceptance, the affirmation, the agreement, the accountability, and the access to the Father. And he said, “It can’t compare with what I settled for. I gave up what my father was providing for me for what I wanted to do for myself.” He turned toward home.

And the cool part is, as the prodigal son was stumbling and fumbling his way home, the father saw him in the distance. He’d been watching and waiting. And then, the prodigal watched as his father started running toward him. You know why? First, because the father loved his son simply for who he was, even in his rebellion and failure. Secondly, because the father knew that in first-century culture, if you ever dishonored your father, the villagers had a right to punish by stoning. The father knew his boy was headed for trouble coming back home after disowning and disrespecting him. But what did his father do? He ran out to meet him, to cover him from the condemnation that he deserved. And also, in the first century it was considered undignified for Jewish men to run. When they did, it looked as if they had lost control. But this father ran. He got undignified and made himself lesser so his son could become greater. He put himself down to lift his son up. He covered his son to let everyone know, “I approve of his repentance. I approve of him coming to his senses and realizing what life in light looks like from a place of death.”

The son was genuinely repentant and felt unworthy. However, the father didn’t care about the past. All he cared about is his son was back home with him. Let the celebration begin. “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:22-24).

Living in spiritual separation is death, but when you come to your senses, you have a chance to be restored back to life. The son was thinking he’d just be a servant, but the father was saying, “I’m giving you the full rights of sonship and the blessing of my authority and endorsement on your life.”

Coming to your senses and coming back home to the Father is the best thing that could happen to you. Then, you can begin walking in the light for the rest of your life. The Father’s life is all yours. If you’ve got Him, you have everything.

Tim Johnson joins James and Betty this Thursday on LIFE TODAY. Excerpted from Fatherless No More by Tim Johnson. Copyright ©2024 by Tim Johnson. Published by Harp & Sword Media. Used by permission.