It's not the long walk home that will change this heart, but the welcome I receive with every start.Every time this song comes on when I'm in my car, I find myself moved almost to tears by the goodness of God. His grace - that is what has drawn me to love Him.
Obviously this phrase from the song is a reference to the Prodigal Son story, which is a parable that seems a limitless trove of valuable truths. If you know the story then you know that the so-called "prodigal son" demanded his inheritance of his father, left his father's home and proceeded to waste everything on booze, sex, drugs, travel, and general lasciviousness. By the time he was done partying he was working with pigs and envying them their meals. This low point prompted him to decide to return home in the hopes that he could go to work for his father and at least have a decent life as a servant.
The beautiful moment of the story is when the son returns home. He doesn't get to act out the beggar's plea he's been practicing because, on his way up the road to his father's house, his father sees him and comes running down the lane and embraces him. This part is too good not to quote.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to celebrate.This is the heart of God that move men like me to love God. You see, the long road home goes a ways to change us for sure. Don't you know that it was a pretty shitty experience for this young man when he had spent all that he had in foreign lands, only to be broke when famine came there, forcing him to take about the worst work he could imagine. I'll bet he learned a lot from that experience about humility and gratefulness. He must have because it was enough to drive him back to his father's house, which had to be humiliating and embarassing. I can just imagine how much he beat himself up while traveling back home; and how much he was learning about perseverance and patience as he dealt with the difficulty of travelling without money and with little hope. I have no doubt that this reckless son came back to his father's house much wiser, more humble, and ready to be the best that he could be at whatever there was left for him to do.
But here is what he did not learn on that long walk home. He learned nothing about grace. The lesson of grace is not something we teach ourselves, not something that we earn, and this son didn't learn about grace until he looked up in surprise and saw his father running down the road to meet him. He learned about grace when his father refused to hear his plea for work and instead called for the best robe and the ring and good shoes to be put on his son. He learned about grace when the fatted calf was slaughtered in his honor and the whole household proceeded to celebrate his return.
In short it was the welcome he received with his new start that changed his heart. Can you imagine ever turning back from that kind of grace and love? To what would you turn and where would you go? This is how God captures our hearts and changes our lives. His grace and love are amazing, and when we encounter that we can't help but to have our hearts changed.
