By Darlene Stern

While shopping at a thrift store, my son spotted a hat that shouted volumes. It has become one of his prize acquisitions. The hat is white with red embroidery. A little red pig sits above the motto: "The Sty is the Limit."

One's first thought upon seeing the hat is that this is a misprint of the saying, "The sky is the limit," which implies there is nothing the wearer cannot accomplish. But upon closer examination, the pig confirms the saying is printed correctly.

The Prodigal Son probably said, "The sky is the limit!" on the day he departed from the family farm with his part of the inheritance burning a hole in his pocket. He purposed to follow the ways of the world to do whatever his little heart desired. But it didn't take long, the Bible tells us in Luke 15:13, before he had squandered everything.

The son who had turned away from his roots to seek the sky soon found himself penniless in a sty (pigpen), taking care of unclean animals and eating their feed to stay alive. But then Luke tells us, "...he came to himself..."(verse 17).

That means he realized how far he had come down from the sky to the sty. In essence, he said, "The sty is the limit!" He was quitting this pigpen. He had been abased as far as he was willing to go in his rebellion against his father. It was time to go home and ask for forgiveness. Indenturing himself to his father would be a blessed trade for the stench of this sty in a foreign land.

When we come back to the Lord out of the pursuits of the world, we're so happy to be back that we would gladly do anything to just serve Him. We have learned that being of the world really stinks compared to the sweet fragrance of being in the presence of God. Father welcomes us with open arms, rejoicing in our return. He not only throws a party to celebrate our return, exchanging the filthy rags of what we thought was right for the priestly robe of what is right in His eyes, but He also reinstates us to our inheritance, thereby giving us ‘...exceeding abundantly far above all we can think or imagine..."(Ephesians 3:20).

Then, as a child of the King, we can claim, "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13) because it is Christ who paid the price for us to be saved from eternity in hell through His death on the cross. With Christ the sky becomes the limit; without Him we're sentenced to the sty.

What applied to the Prodigal Son is a picture of our lives. God is always willing to take us back just the way we are. We don't have to clean ourselves up to be presentable before He will receive us. He has always loved us and eagerly looks for the time of our coming to Him. He's waiting for us to take the first step back to Him.

Darlene Stern has maintained a portfolio of articles and inspirations the Holy Spirit has poured out to her for years, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to share them with the world. Email Darlene.