Covenant or Contract

But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. -Luke 15:29-30 

Jesus tells this story involving a father and his two sons: the younger demands his share of the inheritance before the father is dead, because to him his father was already dead; the older considers himself to be faithful and hard working, which is where we pick up the story. 

The older brother comes homes after a long days work and finds out that his father has not only accepted his younger brother back into the home, but he has also thrown him a huge party to celebrate his return, and he wasn't invited. The telling element of the story here is how the older brother responds when he finds out what is going on. 

The older brother vehemently explains to his father how he has been "serving" him all these years, how careful he has been to follow all of his fathers commands, and through all that he was not given the same attention that his younger brother was receiving. The older brother felt deserving of what his father could give him because of all his work that he had performed on his father's behalf. The older brother was jealous and angry at what was happening to his younger brother; he did not feel that his younger bother was deserving of how the father was treating him; rather, he thought of himself more deserving of this kind of party because of how he had been "serving" his father. 

What's interesting about this story is that the older brother has a good point here, if he was right, but the truth is that he is just as lost as his younger brother was. One of the problems with the older brother in this story is how he lives within a contract with his father and not within a covenant. See, Jesus is showing us that the older brother is just as lost and estranged from the father as the younger brother, because closeness with the Father isn't defined by what we can do for Him, it's defined by our position with Him. This story shows us how the older brothers "serving" his father actually kept him from his father--he had to figure out there was a party going on after he came in from working; if he was with the father he would have been able to celebrate with him and celebrate like him. 

Sadly, the older brother was trying to work to gain his father affection for him. We see this in his exclamation to his father when he realizes the party is going on, "For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends (v.29). The older brother was trying to work for the fathers affection through contract instead of living in the love of his father through covenant. 

This is a great question for us, are we living in contract with the Father, or are we living in covenant with the Father? If you find yourself in a contact with the Father then He is speaking to you the same way he is speaking to the older bother by saying, "Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours" (Luke 15:31). 

The Father acknowledges faithfulness, yet reminds us that we do not have to work for his love--that would be a dysfunctional relationship. The Father, in His goodness, reminds us that we belong in covenant with Him, and it is in that place that we enjoy everything that the Father possesses. 

Do not settle for a contracted relationship with the Father; rather, live in covenant with Him and understand what it means to live from love instead of striving to live for it.