Do you remember the Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son? Let me read a few verses of it for you. It is from Luke 15:14-20.
After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country…So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father.” So he got up and went to his father.
Why did I give this story the title of “The Pig that Got the Permanent Wave?” When I was a teenage preacher, my preacher told me this title and I never forgot it. This title reminds me of one of the great lessons from this parable. When life tumbled in for the prodigal, he knew he had to give this up. He waved goodbye to the pigs and went back to his father.
I love this thought because it is the way out of a problem that all of us should learn. When we mess up, we need to just fess up and do the right thing. He decided to go back to where life had been good and he just went!
There were no 15 sessions of counseling or endless talking to his friends. He knew the right thing to do. He knew what worked before and he just did it! He said goodbye to the pigs and went home.
You’ve heard people say, “People won’t change until they hit rock bottom.” The prodigal hit rock bottom. Then he followed the advice of “The first thing you do when you hit rock bottom is to stop digging.” He stopped digging and went home.
So what do you need to wave goodbye to? Just do it! This would be the point of Jesus’ story for you.
Lonnie Davis