An often-overlooked part of The Prodigal Son - why we shouldn't be jealous of other people's stuff

The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most well-known parts of the Bible. It's a story that Jesus taught about a son who asks for his inheritance early, leaves home, squanders his inheritance, is left in abject poverty, and then realizes he would be better off working as a servant for his father than where he currently is right now. So he travels to his father, who greets him with open arms and prepares a feast for him. 

The prodigal son's brother, however, is jealous. The brother reminds his father that he has always lived with his father yet the father has never prepared a feast for him and his friends. Let's take a look at this often-overlooked part of this parable - the father's response to the brother:

Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’

Luke 15: 31-32

In this parable, we are the prodigal son until we accept Jesus as our lord and savior. The Father wants us with him no matter what has happened before. If we look at it from the brother's point of view though, we can relate to why he is jealous. But then look at the father's response: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." 

God is saying that when we know Him and are with Him, we are not forgotten about, even when another prodigal child returns home to Him. He already is willing to share everything with us who are with Him - in this case, he is sharing heaven. Wow! That feels wonderful. These few words: "and all that is mine is yours" is an often-overlooked part of this parable, where we get to see clearly that God is sharing heaven with us. So when we look at it like that, we shouldn't be jealous of other people's worldly stuff.

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