When He Came to Himself

Memory, reality, responsibility

The younger son's turning happens in three moves, and they happen in order.

• Memory: how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare.
• Reality: and I perish with hunger.
• Responsibility: I will arise and go to my father.

The famine did not destroy him

It led him back to himself, and then back to the Father. Hard seasons are not always judgement; sometimes they are the only quiet room loud enough for you to hear your own name.

He was still a son in the far country. That is why the father could say this son of mine was dead and is alive again while the boy was still filthy from the journey.

The father's response

The son had rehearsed a demotion speech. He never got to finish it.

• No condemnation.
• No delay — the father ran while the son was still a great way off.
• No demotion to hired servant.
• Full restoration: robe, ring, shoes and a feast.

Nebuchadnezzar lifts his eyes

Daniel 4 tells the same story from the top of the ladder. Is this not great Babylon, that I have built by my mighty power — and the word was still in his mouth when the kingdom departed from him.

Restoration comes the same way: at the end of the time, I lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. Understanding follows the lifted eyes, not the other way round.

First love is a place you can return to

To Ephesus, a church commended for works and endurance, the charge is simply that you have left your first love. Remember, repent, and do the first works — memory, reality, responsibility again.

Coming to yourself is not self-improvement. It is remembering whose you are while you are still a great way off.