Day 29: Across the Jordan: What's the One Thing Your Prodigal Needs?

Devotional

We didn’t know he was autistic yet, just that he was a little “behind.” Our third sonwas three and a half years old, and it felt like he was by my side every wakingmoment. One day I realized why: I was nearly the only person that could understanda word he said. I was his mom . . . and his interpreter. Soon the severity of theproblem became evident, and the more I thought about it, the more I lamented: how

could speaking simple words, something that came so easily to every other toddlerI knew (including my first two sons), be so painfully difficult for my little boy?

He began to see a wonderful speech therapist who had the knowledge and ability tohelp him, and soon his speech began improving. Finally others could understandhim, and a new world began to unfold.

Perhaps you’ve been tryingunsuccessfully to break through to yourloved one for years—for decades even.It’s discouraging, isn’t it? Does it feellike you’re not even speaking the samelanguage, or do you wonder why thefaith that feels so natural to others is soforeign to them? I wonder if that’s howJohn felt while preaching in thewilderness (Matt. 3:1–11). He spoketruth and did the work that God had setbefore him, but in the end, it wasn’t Johnor John’s baptism the people needed.They needed someone who could notjust baptize but save them. They neededan encounter with the Living Word.

If it feels like you’re notspeaking the samelanguage as yourprodigal, it could be thatyour job is simply toprepare the way forJesus to work in their lifein a way that onlyHe can.

Once Jesus crossed the Jordan “to the place where John had been baptizingearlier,” something extraordinary occurred. “Many came to him and said, ‘John neverdid a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.’ And many believed inhim there” (John 10:41–42).

Praying friend, don’t be discouraged if your witness and words of biblicalencouragement seem to be falling on deaf ears. Even if it feels like you’re notspeaking the same language as your prodigal, it could be that your job is simply toprepare the way for Jesus to work in their life in a way that only He can. May theyone day realize that everything you said about Jesus was true . . . and come home.