Emily Hardie

“ACTION – Time to Get Up”

Action is where a lot of us get stuck. We know what needs to be done, we have stepped out onto the platform, but we just can’t move. It’s one thing to have the awakening and even to be honest about what we need to do. It’s another thing entirely to take the leap. In Luke 15:20 we read the simple phrase that changed the story of the Prodigal Son. Jesus simply said, “So he got up…”

He took immediate action. He recognized that it was time to get up. It was time to do something. And unless our story reads, “So he got up,” or “So she got up,” then nothing really changes.

This is where AHA stalls out for so many of us. We have an awakening moment, we even find the strength to be brutally honest, but we never get around to actually doing anything different. We spend much of our lives stuck between honesty and action.

You might be reading this and thinking, “I agree with you, but I just don’t feel like doing anything about it.”

It may sound a little cold, or perhaps a bit trite; however, the truth is we need to obey God even when we don’t feel like it. When we obey God even without the motivation to do so, our feelings will eventually catch up with our actions.

Look back at your game plan for the changes you need to make. You’ve probably made the list before, whether on paper or in your mind, and you know what they are. Identify the first step, just like the Prodigal Son did when he pointed out, “I will go home and say to my father…” He knew what he needed to do, and he carried it out. Find your first step and act on it now, whether or not you want to. And you may find that along the road, with God’s help, actions that at first seem artificial can become authentic.

Read Luke 15:20.

²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Have you been awakened, and honest with yourself, but then not gone through with the necessary action? What is the first step you can take to begin that action?

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“Grace for Both Sons”

The older son was indignant after seeing his father’s actions. This older brother may have worked hard and faithfully tended the fields, but he was lost in his father’s house.

There was no awakening. There was no honesty. There was no action.

The truth is, he, too, was a prodigal son. He, too, had a heart that was far from the father. He too was lost, but he didn’t see it. Tim Keller puts it this way, “The bad son was lost in his badness, but the good son was lost in his goodness.”

You may never have been to a Distant Country. You may have an impressive religious resume. You may have followed all the rules. You may have read this entire book thinking of all the people you know in the Distant Country who really need to hear it. But I wonder if you are the one Jesus has been talking to all along.

Luckily, when the older brother was in the field, the father left the celebration and went out to him. He engaged the son directly.

What does this tell us about God? God longs for a relationship with His children. Whether your life resembles the older son or the younger.

Even after the younger son’s insulting choices and reckless living, the father embraced him with kisses and hugs. And after the older brother’s harsh words and disrespect, the father lovingly explained himself. The patriarch would never have had to explain himself in ancient times. Households were not democracies; they were dictatorships. Yet the father answered the older brother’s anger with gentle patience and grace.

We expect God to be an angry father who demands justice, but through Jesus, He gives us love and grace when we don’t deserve it. Ultimately, the story in Luke 15 isn’t about two sons who disobey. It is about a Father who loves His children unconditionally.

Read Luke 15:25-32.

²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

When you have sinned, how do you envision God and what He thinks of you? How does His never-ending grace and love fuel the entire AHA process?

“HONESTY – Honesty that Brings Healing”

Most Christians understand and accept the importance of being honest, both with themselves and with God. In 1 John, the Bible tells us that when we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Bible also says that Jesus took the punishment we deserve upon Himself when He died on the cross. Jesus died for my sins, so that when I confess them, God forgives them.

Usually, we tell ourselves that it doesn’t have to go any further than that: “If I’m honest with myself and with God, that’s enough.” But AHA requires more.

James 5:16 speaks of confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another “so that you may be healed.” When we are honest with God about our sins, He forgives us, but when we are honest with others, we find healing.

What does “healing” mean?

Well, the practice of confessing our sins to one another holds us accountable and helps us find the encouragement we need to break the cycle of our struggle. When we take what we have kept in the dark and drag it kicking and screaming into the light, we find that it loses much of its power over us.

And the healing James talks about is more literal than you might think. Check this out: A secular contemporary psychology textbook entitled Coping with Stress confirms the healing power of confession. The author claims that, “people who tend to keep secrets have more physical and mental complaints, on average, than people who do not… [including] greater anxiety, depression, and bodily symptoms such as back pain and headaches… The initial embarrassment of confessing is frequently outweighed by the relief that comes with the verbalization of the darker secretive aspects of the self.”

Proverbs 28:13 echoes these findings: “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

Read James 5:16.

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Read 1 John 1:5-10.

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

How has the act of confessing your sins to others helped you in the past? Are there any secret sins that you have been bottling up, unwilling to expose them to the light?

“HONESTY – Talking to Myself”

We see the second ingredient (Brutal Honesty) of AHA in Luke 15:17: “He said to himself…”

There was no one else around. It was just him and the pigs. Sometimes the hardest conversation to have is the one you have with yourself. Brutal honesty begins when we look in the mirror and speak the truth about what we see. AHA requires you to tell the truth about yourself to yourself.

The Prodigal Son was honest with himself about what he deserved. That kind of honesty is difficult. We’d prefer the awakening without the brutal honesty.

Like the wife who wakes up to her critical spirit but refuses to say, “I have been wrong to be so negative. I know my husband needs my encouragement and support, but I’ve just complained and criticized.”

Like the husband who realizes his sexual sin but refuses to say, “My pornography problem has created a wedge in my marriage and has hardened my heart toward my wife.”

Avoiding brutal honesty will short-circuit lasting change. When there is recognition without repentance, AHA doesn’t happen. When the Prodigal Son came to his senses, he dealt with himself truthfully. The awakening must lead to honesty. Conviction must lead to confession.

After all, our heavenly Father sees and knows all, so it’s not a question of getting caught. The honesty I’m talking about is more than a simple acknowledgement; it is a kind of brokenness. Yes, you tell the person who caught you that you are sorry, but you must go beyond that. In an honest moment when no one else is around, you must tell yourself the truth about yourself and know that you are sorry.

That’s the difference between regret and repentance.

Read Luke 15:17-19.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’

Read Hebrews 4:13.

¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Have you followed up an awakening by being brutally honest with yourself? Are you honest enough with yourself to see your brokenness and how it displeases God?

“AWAKENING – Erasing Famines”

Recently I read about an experiment done by psychologist Jonathan Haidt. He came up with a fascinating hypothetical exercise, which went something like this:

Participants were handed a summary of a person’s life and asked to read it over. Participants were then asked to imagine that the person was their daughter. This is her unavoidable life story. She hasn’t been born yet, but she will be soon, and this is where her life is headed. Participants then had five minutes to edit her story. Eraser in hand, they could eliminate whatever they wanted out of her life.

The question for participants was: What do you erase first?

Most of us would instinctively and frantically begin to erase the learning disability and the car accident and the financial challenges. We love our children and would want them to live a life without those hardships, pains, and setbacks. We would all prefer our children’s lives be free from pain and anguish.

But ask yourself: Is that really what’s best?

Do we really think a privileged life of smooth sailing is going to make our kids happy? What if you erase a difficult circumstance that will wake them up to prayer? What if you erase a hardship that’s going to show them how to be joyful in spite of any circumstance? What if you erase some pain and suffering that ends up being the catalyst God uses in their life to cause them to cry out to Him? What if you erase a difficult circumstance that wakes them up to God’s purpose for their lives?

It may sound harsh to say, but the number one contributor to spiritual growth is not sermons, books, or small groups; the number one contributor to spiritual growth is difficult circumstances. I can tell you this because of personal experience, reading spiritual-growth surveys, and my own anecdotal evidence after talking to thousand of people over the years. AHA comes out of the suffering, setbacks, and challenges of life. Many people could point to those moments as their greatest moments of spiritual awakening.

Read 2 Corinthians 7:10.

¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Read Luke 15:14.

¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

What times in your life have you experienced the most spiritual growth? Were they times of plenty, or were they the hard time? Is God trying to grow you right now through some difficult trial or circumstance?