A profligate son of wealthy parents who were Christians was a sad disgrace to his family. Bob had turned his back upon home and parents. He gave himself up to a life of sin and debauchery. He became a wanderer without home or real friends. Finally, brought to the verge of starvation, he made a desperate resolve: he would break into his own father's home in the absence of the family. He knew where certain valuables were kept, and he foolishly reasoned that his father owed him a living. Bob determined that he would have it.
It was a simple matter for the lad to get into the house and no trouble at all to break open the safe. In the stillness he began to search for whatever he could turn into money. Finding a packet of papers, and glancing through them for something he could sell, he came upon his father's will! He began to read it and was amazed to find his name among the heirs, with a large bequest for the deluded but still beloved prodigal. At first he could not believe it possible, that the father with whom he had quarreled and whom he had treated so disgracefully, against whom he cherished such bitter feeling, still loved his wayward boy!
"Can it be true," he said to himself, "that my father loves me in spite of all my bitter hatred? Can it be, in spite of the dishonor I have brought upon the family, that he is still ready to treat me as a son?"
The more Bob thought of it, the more ashamed he was of his own wretched conduct. His shame soon turned to sorrow and, like the prodigal, he confessed, "I HAVE SINNED."
The happy sequel need not be told for we are more interested in YOU, dear reader! Are you a lost sinner? God loves YOU, in spite of your wanderings and enmity toward Him. He seeks your highest good, your eternal happiness. He waits with open arms to embrace you, for He longs for your salvation.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.