How to Return to God

By W Hay Aitken

The younger son in the parable of the Prodigal Son lived at home in a place of love and safety. Yet he wanted to see the attractions of the world outside home. When nothing lived up to his expectations he wondered if it would be possible to return home, even if it meant living there in disgrace and judgment. Eventually, he realizes he can no longer go on as he is, and to his great surprise he finds his father running out to meet him, welcoming him home with love and forgiveness. And that’s the point of the parable. Jesus wouldn’t have told it if it wasn’t a true picture of God’s love for those who have “gone away” and now want to return home, however badly they have been living. Christians who have known Jesus as Savior can drift away from the faith, not always deliberately but through finding attractions of the world more interesting or involving, and giving up their time of daily Bible reading and prayer. If this is you, will God receive you back? Will He also run out to meet you with love, like the father in the parable? The answer is yes, and here is how.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Jul 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781913950545

Book preview

About the Book

The younger son in the parable of the Prodigal Son lived at home in a place of love and safety. Yet he wanted to see the attractions of the world outside home. When nothing lived up to his expectations he wondered if it would be possible to return home, even if it meant living there in disgrace and judgment.

Eventually, he realizes he can no longer go on as he is, and to his great surprise he finds his father running out to meet him, welcoming him home with love and forgiveness. And that’s the point of the parable. Jesus wouldn’t have told it if it wasn’t a true picture of God’s love for those who have gone away and now want to return home, however badly they have been living.

Christians who have known Jesus as Savior can drift away from the faith, not always deliberately but through finding attractions of the world more interesting or involving, and giving up their time of daily Bible reading and prayer. If this is you, will God receive you back? Will He also run out to meet you with love, like the father in the parable? The answer is yes, and here is how.

How to Return to God

by W Hay Aitken

(1841-1927)

This White Tree Publishing edition ©2021

eBook ISBN: 978-1-913950-54-5

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

More books on https://whitetreepublishing.com/

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Bible verses are from the NASB, the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this revised edition.

Cover illustration by aaron-burden-AvqpdLRjABs-unsplash

Contents

Cover

About the Book

About the Author

White Tree Publishing Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Epilogue

Starting Out

About White Tree Publishing

Short books on Faith by W Hay Aitken and others

Books by JR Miller

About the Author

This short book comes from The Love of the Father by W Hay Aitken, a book first published in 1888 containing his talks on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Each section stands alone, and we are publishing here the section How to Return to God.

W Hay Aitken (William Hay Macdowall Hunter) was a mission preacher born in Liverpool, England. He visited the United States on a Mission Tour 1886, and again 1895-1896, when he worked also in Canada, the tour lasting over six months. In addition to his mission work, he was the writer of