God's Feet

   And kissed him.—Luke 15:20

"The first word "and" links us on to all that had gone before. The parable is a very familiar one, yet it is so full of sacred meaning that it always has some fresh lesson for us.

Let us, then, consider the preliminaries to this kissing.

Before the prodigal son received these kisses of love, he had said in the far country, "I will arise and go to my father." He had, however, done more than that, else his father's kiss would never have been upon his cheek. The resolve had become a deed: "He arose, and came to his father."

Before the kisses of love were given, this young man was on his way to his father; but he would not have reached him unless his father had come the major part of the way. When you give God and inch, He will give you an ell. If you come a little way to Him, when you are "yet a great way off" He will run to meet you. I do not know that the prodigal saw his father, but his father saw him.

I do not suppose that the prodigal travelled very fast. I should imagine that he came very slowly—            Slow are the steps of repentance,

but swift are the feet of forgiveness."

Charles Spurgeon