The Prodigal God.

Every now and then you come across a book that changes everything for you. Such is the case for me with the book I'm reading now, The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. I haven't finished it yet. As is the case with all great books, I'm savoring every page, not wanting it to end.

The basic premise is simple yet profound. Keller's point is that the popular parable about "The Prodigal Son" tells only half the story. Most of the focus has been on the younger son, that took his part of Dad's money and went off to enjoy the "good life." A first century equivalent of "what happens in Vegas..."

Where he ends up is in a pigsty, embarassed, broken and lonely.

Keller's point is that the other brother (the elder brother) is just as broken and exiled from his Father. He has used his "goodness" not because he truly loved his Dad and wanted to have a realtionship with him, but as a means to get what he wanted.

I had never thought about this parable this way. Keller brings out so many deep insights about how we can all go astray from God, either as "a younger brother" (through our disobedience), as an "elder brother" (with our Pharisee-like adherence to being "morally perfect") or some combination of the two. It's made me face the ways that I've had an "elder brother" attitude, without even realizing it. Keller's points on how God is a Prodigal (seeking endlessly) in both instances is riveting.

Read. This. Now.