Becoming Prodigal

The Prodigal God
by Timothy Keller (Dutton)

I remember many years ago when a grumpy old woman at the church I attended grumbled that if she heard one more sermon about the prodigal son, she would throw up. She may have had a point. Maybe she wasn't tired of the story, just tired of hearing the same old sermons about the story. Sadly, I think it's more likely that she was one of the people (people like me) who most need to see themselves in the story to understand what it means for them.

Tim Keller's new book, The Prodigal God, does just that. It's a beautiful meditation on the famous story Jesus told about a father and his two sons (Luke 15). The insights Keller brings out of this old story are so profound and helpful that I felt like I was hearing it for the first time.

I'm planning to use the book as a springboard for a teaching series I'm calling "The Prodigal Church." I'll begin this series two weeks after Easter and continue it through June.

prod-i-gal (adjective)
1. recklessly extravagant
2. having spent everything

"The solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the gospel, where he poured out his wealth for you." (p. 118)