“He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” Luke 15:16 (NIV)
Desperate situations demand desperate measures. For a human being to get low enough to crave the slop that pigs eat defies logic. However, as Steve Farrar says in his book, Finishing Strong:
- Sin will take you farther than you want to go.
- Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.
- Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
Our appetite for sin will eventually take us down a road that leads to living below our new identity in Christ. The prodigal son reached the low point of sin’s dreaded sway. He encountered the backside of the glitz and glamour of sin.
What would happen if you inverted your desperation? What if you decided to live in desperation for God? What if your appetite was refashioned from craving of sin to craving of righteousness?
Have you been to the desperate place? Have you ever reached the bottom? Now look within! Recognize your current condition. You are not made for the pigpen. Now look up! Resolve to live in light of your new identity in Christ.
Pursuing God,
Stephen Trammell
Pastor of Leadership and Pastoral Care