A Parable Of A Rich Homeless Beggar!
Once upon a time, there was a homeless beggar who sat on the street corners of Colorado Springs begging for money. He did this year after year, in the cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer, no matter how hard he tried nothing ever got better for him.
Then, one day a very rich man, walking down the street came to the corner and saw this homeless beggar, he stood there in horror and in shock at who he was seeing! The reason was, this person on the corner was his brother!
The rich brother exclaimed: “Brother, what are you doing? Why are you living on this corner and begging like this? Do you not know, our father has left you a considerable fortune and has it deposited in the bank?”
Now the beggar looks at his brother and has five choices in response to this good news he just heard.
Option Response #1, The Unbeliever: The beggar looks up and says; “ I do not believe that for one minute! That is all a fairy tale and you must think I am a fool to believe such nonsense and please do not waste my time with such wives tales. He blows off his brother and continues to go on begging and nothing changes. He dies begging on the corner with all his great wealth in the bank.
Option Response # 2; The Angry Child: The beggar looks up and says in his angriest voice; Brother, do you not know how much I hated father, he was never there when I needed him. If he loved me, why did he allow all those things in my life to happen? Our Father, with all his great power and riches, did he ever change anything in this world? He tells his brother to leave and never speak such foolishness to him again because of his great anger for his father. He dies living on the corner with all his great wealth still in the bank.
Option Response #3; The Proud Religous Son: The beggar looks up and sees his brother and hugs him with the warmest response. The rich son asked: “Why brother are you living on this corner and in poverty when our father has left you such wealth?” The beggar responses; ” Why do I need that, when I am doing it on my own? I am the most successful beggar of all time. I do not need our fathers help in any way. I do all these good works and I help so many others. I have studied all there is to know about begging and getting wealth. I am the hardest worker on these corners and I will achieve this on my own without our fathers help. The beggar works all his life and dies without any success or wealth. His great pride keeps him from what he had already in the bank.
Option Response #4; The Self Loather: The beggar looks up and sees his brother, at first he tries to hide his face. The Rich Brother says: “Brother, why are you sitting here on the corner when you are an heir to a fortune?” The beggar brother explains: I am not worthy of my father’s love and all that he has for me. I can never believe nor will I ever that he will forgive a person like me.
Option Response #5; The Receiving Son: The rich brother calls out to his brother on the corner; Brother, I am so saddened you are living on this corner in poverty and without food or money. Do you not know our father has deposited into your account a considerable inheritance. It is all there waiting for you to make a withdrawal from the bank. The beggar son looks up and says; “this news is too good to be true (the gospel)!” Let us go and enjoy what father has left and let me begin a new life without being a beggar. They both go to the bank and make a withdraw and the rich son now shows his beggar brother a new way to live with the inheritance of their father.
The Meaning Of The Parable
The point of this parable is that God became man and His name was Jesus. He came so he could reconcile man back to himself. He loves us with all His heart and He wants fellowship with all humanity, we are His children. He did not let your sins just slide by nor did He just turn His head to them. The father had Jesus pay for them all at the cross at Calvary. He did this to remove any separation you have between him and you (that is your sin and rebellion). Your sin debt is all paid for and it is deposited into a spiritual bank account just waiting for you to accept it. It also comes along with a wonderful inheritance and with so many benefits the father has bestowed on you, including eternal life. So with this wonderful news just presented to you, like our beggar, now you have five different ways to respond to this wonderful gift;
- Be an unbeliever and think this is nothing more than a religious fairy tale.
- Be an angry person and blame God for all the wrongs in your life and in this world.
- Be a religious person, believe all religions can get you to heaven, that is if you truly are a good person. You can also believe that you can work and be good enough to get yourself into heaven. That is through baptism, good works, following the Law or the Golden rule, doing sacraments and also believing you are a Christian because you go to church and maybe even have become a long-standing member.
- Be a self-loather and believe your sins are greater than God’s love and grace for you. You can also be so convinced that there is nothing you could ever do that could get you to heaven, again because you are a worthless sinner. You can also believe that God wants nothing to do with you, which is a lie.
- The fifth and only correct response is to hear the good news that God has paid your sin debt and is willing to accept and to adopt you into His family, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This makes you a joint heir to Jesus. He exchanged His perfect God life for your sinful and hopeless life. All we have to do is accept this free gift and receive a total pardon of our sins and become a member of God’s Family.
I pray that you will make the right choice today and receive God’s full pardon on your life. If you have more questions on eternal life and how to receive it go to https://dsiministries.com/do-you-want-eternal-life/
Written by Dennis Stauffer
Edited by Gary Green (Omega House)
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