The Downward Spiral of Faithlessness

The prodigal son from Luke 15 is one of the best-known parables from the New Testament. It’s a beautiful story of waywardness and a loving father with arms stretched wide open ready to embrace the sweet smell of swine. We resonate with this story because we hope that we will open our eyes one day and see that we must turn back to the Father, and we pray we do so sooner than later. A lesser-known story from the Bible is the story of Ahaz. His story is not printed in many, if any, children’s story Bibles and we do not often think of his story. Perhaps,we should focus on his story more though because he is not too unlike any of us. Ahaz and the prodigal son’s stories of faithlessness have many parallels with one key difference. Let’s see what that is.

I’m almost positive that the prodigal son did not wake up that morning and think for the first time ever that today was the perfect day to ask for his inheritance and leave. Rather, a small seed rooted into his heart and grew and grew in discontentment until it was time for him to follow his passions and lusts rather than his father. Ahaz similarly must’ve had some decent instruction in his raising as he was the son of Jotham who is portrayed as righteous in the Bible. Despite this, Ahaz followed his passions and lusts. What starts out small and unchecked in ourlives and hearts can lead us to do some drastic things that we see in both of these accounts.

The prodigal son began living in such a way that was wild and free where he could chase desires of his flesh. Seeking and never finding contentment he finds himself debating about eating the pig’s food while working among them, a huge low for a Jewish man. Though we may not be for sure where Ahaz’s faithlessness journey started, we do see that his entire kingship was chasing his lusts and passions. This chasing leads him to do some wicked and awful things like sacrificing his own children in a fire for a false god, a huge low for any person.

Both the prodigal son and Ahaz experienced a string of bad decisions rooted in their own passions and lusts. We all know that when you make one bad decision, the others are easier and quicker to follow. The key difference between the two is that Ahaz continued on in his destructive and evil ways while the prodigal son turned his eyes back to his father and returned to him. Both had stopped walking in the way of faith, but only one of them recognized where that was taking them and turned back from it.

God wants us to turn back to him. Like the prodigal son we do not have to make ourselves right or sort anything out before we come back to him. He is ready to embrace us and do that work with us. Be mindful to check for weeds in the garden of your soul and remove them before they can choke out the good fruit that is there. Keep your eyes on the Father and stand assured in the faith.

By Lucas Morrison