Burden For The Lost

And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Luke 15:20

The prodigal son has returned to the Father, but there are many elder sons who still have not returned to the Father. They(elder sons) stay physically close to the Father, yet their hearts are far from him. They do not understand the burden of the Father for the prodigal sons. They don’t have the burden like the father has for the prodigal sons. They are in their father's house, next in line to inherit his property but not next in line to become like the Father. They stay in Father's place but still have no desire to understand or know the Father better.

The elder son was in close proximity to the Father, but their hearts were far apart. The elder son's thinking differed from the father's thinking. Despite residing at Father's house, the elder brother did not share the Father's burden for the lost son.

You tell who is far away from the Father - Elder son or Prodigal son

The prodigal son was far away due to his sinful living, while the elder son was far away because his heart was not in line or aligned with the Father’s heart i.e. elder son did not share Father’s burden for the prodigal son.

Father was weeping externally for the prodigal son, but he could also be weeping for his elder son. But Father is weeping. Father is weeping for both the sons, the prodigal son and the elder son. Today, Father God is weeping for all the sons who are lost in the world, and the elder sons who are lost in church. Elder sons do God's work, but they don't align to God's will and have no burden for the unsaved or lost. You may be in the church, doing God's work, but if you don't align to Father's heart and will, you can become like the elder son. If you don't have a burden for the lost and unsaved, you can become like elder son.

When you don't have a burden for the unsaved and lost, God might be sad and weeping for you. In either case, Father is weeping. Just because you are with Father or attending the church, does not make God happy; but, aligning with Father's heart and having a burden for the lost makes God happy. Start sharing the burden of Jesus for the unsaved brothers and sisters around you. Staying close to Father God’s heart aligning to his will is more important than staying in the close proximity of the church. Father is weeping; come back, elder son.