Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

The Lord Jesus often used parables in his teaching of the Word of God. A parable is a story told to illustrate Bible truth.

Of all the parables told by Jesus, the one about a prodigal son who left home and later returned in disgrace, is the best known.

Someone once asked Charles Dickens what was the best short story in the English language. His answer was the Prodigal Son.

A certain man had two sons. The younger son demanded that his father give him the portion of money that was rightfully his.

When he had gathered everything together, he journeyed to a far-away country. Wasting all his money with riotous living, he returned home to his father.

Expecting the worst, he was surprised to find his father waiting to welcome him with open arms. Filled with compassion, he hugged and kissed his wayward son, and had a feast prepared. “Let us eat, and be merry,” he said. “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

Dr. Draper was a Salvation Army doctor who worked in India. He once visited a young man lying in a hospital who was dying of T. B. He was only twenty-five years old, about the same age as the doctor.

He had been visited by many, Christian people who had spoken to him about his soul. But when Dr. Draper read to him the story of the Prodigal Son, it was the means of the young man’s conversion.