The Lost Son Who Never Left. When we hear the Parable of the Prodigal Son, our minds almost always sprint toward the younger brother, the rebel, the runaway, the one who traded home for hunger and dignity for desperation. He’s dramatic. He’s messy. He’s relatable. But standing in the shadows of that celebration was another lost son. The elder brother never left home, yet his heart wandered miles away. And if we’re honest, painfully honest, we sometimes look a lot like him. The elder brother did everything “right.” He stayed. He worked. He obeyed. But when grace burst through the front door wearing the younger brother’s tattered clothes, the elder brother froze in the doorway, unable to celebrate what he believed someone else didn’t deserve. He wasn’t lost in a distant land. He was lost in his bitterness. Lost in comparison. Lost in entitlement. Lost in the quiet belief that his faithfulness earned him more love than his brother’s repentance did. And Jesus tells this story because this type of lostness is just as real, just as dangerous, as the kind that rebels and runs. We become the elder brother when Someone else gets a blessing we’ve been praying for. When God pours grace on a person we think should’ve “known better.” We serve faithfully, quietly and feel unseen. We clutch our sense of fairness more tightly than God’s heart of mercy. We start believing God owes us something. Sometimes our feet never leave the Father’s house, but our hearts wander far from His. But here’s the part we often overlook, The father didn’t just run down the road for the prodigal. He walked out into the night for the elder brother. He pleaded with him. Invited him in. Assured him of his place. Reminded him, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” The father pursued both sons with the same relentless love. One comes home from rebellion. The other needs to come home from resentment. And many days, that second son? That’s us. The gospel is wide enough to welcome the broken and the bitter. It restores the rebellious and the resentful. It calls home the ones who run and the ones who stand outside refusing to celebrate. Grace doesn’t just rescue the prodigal. It softens the elder brother. It takes our clenched fists and opens them. It pulls us out of comparison and back into communion. It reminds us that every blessing we have is a gift, not a wage. God is asking us to be present ones. Ones who step inside the celebration because His joy is better than our pride. If you’ve been the prodigal, there’s mercy. If you’ve been the elder brother, there’s healing. If you’ve been both, then welcome to the family. Most of us have. The Father is still standing at the door, light spilling behind Him, saying “My child, come in. Everything I have is yours." Sharing to encourage everyone.✨ l #cikamo