Luke 15:11-13. And he said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that faileth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
It is clear that his heart had gone away from his father before he went away himself. He would not have wished to take from his father his portion of goods, or to be independent of his father, if he had not felt a spirit of alienation; and, therefore, what his father did developed the latent evil; just as, oftentimes, the loving mercy of God brings to the surface the concealed sin which is in man all the while; and then he sins the more openly. It is a grievous thing that even divine love should lead us to sin;¾not of itself, but because of our evil nature, just as the sun shines, not that he may make the weeds to grow, or that he may help to lift into the air noxious effluvia. With goodwill itself as its only motive, ill may come even of the pure sunlight.
Luke 15:11-13. And he said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that faileth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
It is clear that his heart had gone away from his father before he went away himself. He would not have wished to take from his father his portion of goods, or to be independent of his father, if he had not felt a spirit of alienation; and, therefore, what his father did developed the latent evil; just as, oftentimes, the loving mercy of God brings to the surface the concealed sin which is in man all the while; and then he sins the more openly. It is a grievous thing that even divine love should lead us to sin;¾not of itself, but because of our evil nature, just as the sun shines, not that he may make the weeds to grow, or that he may help to lift into the air noxious effluvia. With goodwill itself as its only motive, ill may come even of the pure sunlight.