Will God Forgive Me? The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Scripture Reading: Luke 15: 11-32 ESV

Will God forgive me? Yes. God forgives everyone who turns from sin and trusts in Jesus Christ. Luke 15:11-32 shows that even serious rebellion does not place a repentant sinner beyond God’s mercy. The Parable of the Prodigal Son belongs within our daily devotion series because Jesus does more than describe a wayward son. He exposes our sin and reveals the astonishing mercy of God toward those who return to Him.

That mercy is a truth we need repeatedly, which is why our daily devotionals keep bringing us back to Scripture rather than asking us to measure God’s willingness to forgive by our feelings. Luke 15 directs our attention away from whether we feel forgivable and toward the character of the God to whom sinners return.

What Does the Prodigal Son Teach About God’s Forgiveness?

Jesus told this parable after the Pharisees and scribes complained, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2).

Their complaint provides the setting for everything that follows.

Jesus responds with three stories about something lost being found: a sheep, a coin, and finally a son. But the final parable introduces another kind of lostness. The younger son is lost through obvious rebellion. The elder son remains near his father while revealing a heart hardened by self-righteousness.

Both need grace.

The parable therefore answers more than the question of whether a rebellious person can return to God. It exposes why every sinner, outwardly rebellious or outwardly respectable, must depend upon God’s mercy rather than personal merit.

The Younger Son Had Nothing to Offer

The younger son asks his father for his share of the inheritance and leaves for a distant country (Luke 15:12-13). His rebellion is not merely financial foolishness. He wants his father’s possessions while rejecting life under his father’s authority.

Eventually, everything disappears.

His money is gone. A famine strikes. He becomes so desperate that he works feeding pigs, animals considered unclean under the Old Testament law.

Jesus does not minimize what the son has done. The misery of the distant country reveals where his rebellion has taken him.

Sin makes promises it cannot keep. It presents separation from God’s authority as freedom, but the son who left home determined to live on his own terms eventually discovers that rebellion has made him a slave to his own ruin.

Then something changes.

Jesus says the son “came to himself” (Luke 15:17). He recognizes his condition and resolves to return.

“I will arise and go to my father,” he says. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you” (Luke 15:18).

This is more than regret over consequences. He acknowledges that he has sinned.

He returns without bargaining power, achievements, or excuses.

He simply comes home guilty.

The Father Receives the Returning Son

Before the son reaches the house, his father sees him.

Jesus tells us:

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20

The son begins his confession. He does not minimize his rebellion: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

But the father responds by ordering the best robe, a ring, sandals, and a feast.

“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:24).

The son expected nothing. The father restored him publicly.

That movement from lost to found also appears earlier in Luke 15, where Jesus describes a shepherd going after a wandering sheep. If your guilt has made you wonder does God pursue us, Jesus’ three parables reveal God’s concern for the lost while showing that heaven’s joy is bound to the sinner who repents.

Yet the father’s welcome should never be mistaken for indifference toward sin.

The son confesses his guilt. His rebellion was real. What astonishes us is not that the father decided the rebellion did not matter, but that the father’s compassion was greater than the son expected.

How Can God Forgive Me If I Am Guilty?

This is where the question Will God forgive me? requires us to look beyond the earthly father in Jesus’ story to the fuller testimony of Scripture.

God is merciful, but He is also holy and just.

He does not save sinners by pretending their guilt does not exist.

The answer is Jesus Christ.

At the cross, Christ willingly bore the judgment due to sinners. Peter writes, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Paul says God is both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

God’s forgiveness therefore does not depend upon whether you can make yourself worthy of another chance.

You cannot.

It depends upon Christ.

Repentance does not purchase forgiveness. Tears do not atone for sin. Promises to do better cannot erase guilt.

Christ saves sinners.

That distinction matters when guilt has convinced you that you have exhausted God’s mercy. Scripture’s answer to is God patient does not give us permission to continue comfortably in rebellion. His patience calls sinners to repentance rather than giving them reason to presume upon His grace.

The Elder Brother Was Lost Too

The younger son is not the only person Jesus wants us to examine.

When the elder brother discovers that his father is celebrating the younger son’s return, he becomes angry and refuses to enter.

His words reveal why.

“Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command” (Luke 15:29).

The younger brother believed happiness could be found by leaving the father. The elder brother believed his obedience entitled him to the father’s favor.

One rebelled openly.

The other kept score.

Both misunderstood their relationship with the father.

This was especially pointed because Jesus was speaking in the presence of Pharisees and scribes who resented His reception of sinners. The elder brother exposes the danger of standing near the things of God while trusting our own righteousness.

The gospel leaves no room for either kind of confidence.

The rebellious sinner cannot point to his past.

The religious sinner cannot point to his record.

Both need grace.

Will God Forgive Me If I Keep Struggling With Sin?

Christians continue to battle sin, but repeated struggle does not make Christ’s sacrifice insufficient.

John writes:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9

Notice where John places our confidence.

Not in the intensity of our emotions.

Not in the perfection of our repentance.

In God’s faithfulness.

That does not make sin harmless. A Christian must never use grace as permission to protect, excuse, or cherish sin. Genuine repentance keeps turning from sin toward God, even when the battle is difficult.

But there is an important difference between fighting sin and making peace with it. The believer may fall repeatedly, yet the presence of a real struggle against sin is different from embracing sin without repentance.

Persistent struggles can still raise serious questions about salvation itself, including how to be saved according to Scripture. Jesus does not encourage careless assurance, but neither does Scripture teach us to measure salvation by whether we have achieved sinless obedience. Our assurance rests in Christ alone, while continuing repentance, faith, and the fruit of sanctification provide evidence of His saving work within us.

How Should You Respond to God’s Mercy?

Luke 15 places both sons before us.

Perhaps you recognize the younger son.

You know you have wandered. You know what you have done. Perhaps shame has persuaded you that approaching God now would be hypocritical after ignoring Him for so long.

Do not wait until you feel worthy.

Come to Christ.

Or perhaps the elder brother is more familiar.

You have remained outwardly obedient, but somewhere along the way obedience became a reason to compare yourself with others. You quietly began believing that faithfulness placed God in your debt.

Come to Christ.

The gospel dismantles both forms of lostness.

We cannot be too sinful to need grace, and we cannot become good enough to stop needing it.

Journal Reflection

Luke 15 invites honest examination before God rather than vague feelings of guilt.

Ask yourself:

• What sin am I tempted to hide rather than confess?
• Have I confused feeling ashamed with genuine repentance?
• Am I trusting Christ’s finished work or my ability to improve myself?
• Where can I see the elder brother’s self-righteousness in my own heart?
• What does the father’s response teach me about mercy toward repentant sinners?

A prayer journal can give you a consistent place to bring questions like these before Scripture. Writing cannot secure forgiveness or produce repentance, but it can help us slow down, name sin honestly, record what God’s Word says, and turn what we have learned into prayer.

For believers who prefer a structured format for Scripture meditation, confession, prayer, and application, a guided digital prayer journal can provide that framework while keeping God’s Word, rather than the journal itself, at the center of the discipline.

A Prayer of Repentance and Faith

Father, I have sinned against You, and I cannot make myself worthy of Your mercy.

Thank You that You have not left sinners to save themselves. Thank You for Jesus Christ, who bore the guilt of His people and provides the righteousness I could never produce.

Expose the rebellion I excuse and the self-righteousness I fail to see. Give me genuine repentance rather than temporary regret. Teach me to rest in Christ rather than my record, and by Your Spirit help me walk in grateful obedience.

When guilt makes me want to hide, bring me again to Your promises. When pride makes me compare myself with others, remind me that everything I have received is grace.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Your Sin Is Not Greater Than Christ

Will God forgive me?

If you repent and trust in Jesus Christ, the answer of Scripture is yes.

Not because your sin was small.

Not because repentance makes you deserving.

Not because you can repair everything you have done.

Because Christ is sufficient.

The prodigal came home with a confession rather than a résumé. The elder brother stood outside with a résumé and could not understand the celebration.

Jesus leaves us with the difference.

Grace is received by empty hands.

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