Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh new start.

A new day to rise and walk free from sin. A new day to fully and completely accept the robe and the ring from the Father.

Have you fully accepted what the Lord is offering or are you trying to be his hired hand?

Have you accepted sonship, the full status of child of God and all of the benefits that being in a relationship with the Lord as your daddy?

Or are you trying to work for Him as a servant would because you still carry shame, guilt, and feelings of unworthiness?

I read the story of the prodigal son afresh yesterday.

He audaciously asked for his inheritance while his father was still living. His father obliged and gave him his half of the wealth. He took off for another nation and spent it wildly. Times got tough when a famine swept through the land, and he became a hired hand feeding pigs. This is significant because pigs were considered unclean to the Jewish people. They didn’t eat them, and so to now be caring for pigs shows how far he has fallen. He is so hungry that he looks longingly at the slop. And that’s his aha moment. He remembers home and realizes that his father’s servants eat better and fare better than his current situation. He feels guilt and shame and decides to head home to beg his father for a job as a hired hand. He feels unworthy of anything more than that. He is not even sure if his father will allow him on as a hired hand. He heads home probably rehearsing what he will say a thousand times on the journey. His father saw him while he was still far off, and ran toward him. Raaaaaan for his son. He placed a robe on his son and a ring on his finger. He welcomed him home with a large party and a feast. He celebrated his son’s return with all the bells and whistles. He elevated his status right back to son without ever even considering relating to his son another way.

To read the full parable in scripture, it begins at Luke 15:11

Yet, his son went home feeling only worthy enough to work for his father.

He didn’t expect to be his son because he didn’t feel like he was worthy.

I have struggled with those same feelings. The unworthiness, the shame, the guilt of straying too far, the disbelief at my sin. And just to recieve and accept FULL sonship, FULL daughter status can be hard when we feel unworthy.

Instead, it is easier to slip into people pleasing mode with God and ask Him to just hire me to work for Him. I am good at working for my way, not so good at relating to Him as my Papa.

I am getting there. He is teaching me to accept the robe He wants to place on my shoulders. He is teaching me that He has already sacrificed it all so that I can be His daughter with FULL rights as a child of the King.

He is showing me that all of heaven celebrated when I came home and the celebration continues as I learn to relate to Him as my Papa God, my “Father who art in Heaven.”

That was radical teaching of the day when Jesus began to teach of the Lord as our Father with whom we could relate to as an intimate and loving Father. And in many ways, it is still challenging teaching today.

It can be difficult to drop all the heavy burdens and all the striving and just crawl into the lap of our Lord and talk to Him as our daddy. Our Daddy who has been waiting for this day. Our daddy who fled down the street to meet us the moment we rounded the corner. Our daddy who started a feast and spared no expense on our behalf.

So today, I challenge myself and you to ask yourself a tough question, “Am I allowing the Lord to love on me like a doting Daddy or am I in some areas trying to earn my way as a hired hand?”

And with that tough question comes a beautiful opportunity to accept the robe. We can ask the Lord afresh to reveal to us who we are in Christ. To give us glimpses into the depth of His love. To teach us to recieve our status of His child in full and to accept the full rights that come with it.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Show us Lord. Show us that we are Yours. Show us how to relate to You as Papa. Break down our protective walls that make us feel like we are working for you as hired servants. Instead, teach us to be about the Father’s business as a daughter or a son today. In Jesus’s name, Amen.