And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. Luke 15:11-13 (KJV)

This is the story of the lost (then found) son, told by Jesus.The son told his father to give him his inheritance now, which the father did. He went off and partied and spent the money on sinful living. Then he was left with nothing and famine came, forcing him to work for a pig farmer. All he had to eat was the same thing the pigs ate. Finally, enough was enough and he decided to humble himself and go back to his father.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Luke 15:20-24 (KJV)

The son felt unworthy, but the father embraced him without a second thought. The father ignored the son’s statement of unworthiness and brought forth the best robe, a ring, and shoes for his feet.

The best robe represents righteousness. When we accept Jesus, God cleans us up and makes us righteous, giving us robes of righteousness. We are in right standing with God, accepted by Him. There’s no more blame or shame. We are accepted with royal rights as a son.

The father put a ring on the son’s finger. A ring represented authority to rule. It showed that the son had a relationship with the father giving him the right to access and rule over all the father had. We are sons of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). We have the same authority to rule that Jesus does- He has given His authority to us. We can claim all Christ has provided for us.

Then the father put shoes on the son’s feet. Shoes symbolize our walk, a path on which we tread. There is a place for us in our Father’s house that we may walk in. The old walk is gone, we no longer walk in those paths. Now we have a new walk, in step with our Daddy God in Daddy’s house.

He killed the fatted calf. The calf represented provision. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We lack for nothing as long as we walk with the Lord.

They began to be merry, meaning they celebrated or partied. We should celebrate with God for all He has done for us. According to verse 25, they had music and dancing, which represents worship. We celebrate with God because we were lost and now we’re found; we were dead, but now we live. The wrong way to party is away from God, separated from Him by sin. The right way to party is with God in righteousness, giving Him the worship He deserves.

We must remember to claim all that the Father has, because it belongs to us. Claim it and remain in the Father’s house with Him. And never forget that the real gift, the real blessing, is the Father Himself. It is good to receive all He has, but it is more important to receive all that He is. He’s all we need. When we have Him, we have everything. So party because it’s all yours!