Living Like Poverty

Bible Reading: Luke 15:11-24

Key Verse: Verse 15 - “And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.”

Key Words: and he sent him into his fields to feed swine

The prodigal lived in the poverty of sin. He failed in three ways. 

1. He failed morally. He lived with harlots (verse 30). 
2. He failed socially. He was a Jew slopping hogs (verse 16). 
3. He failed financially...”and when he had spent all” (verse 14). 

I believe the son here represents the wayward, worldly, carnal child of God, who has forgotten he was the son of the Father. He should have lived like nobility, but instead, he lived like the poor, because he failed to realize who he was. When we fail to realize who we are, we walk, talk, act, and live as though we are in spiritual poverty. 

When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn’t know she was in line for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn’t motivate her. She just didn’t take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, “Then I will be good.” 

The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from then on.

As a believer, you are a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Live like it; act like it; walk like it; talk like it...but quit living in poverty.

 

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Live like the bride of Christ, not the harlot of the world.