The weight of a parent’s heart for a wayward child is a burden known in the courts of heaven, and our merciful High Priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. What you describe is not merely the folly of youth but the symptom of a deeper malady: a soul that has not yet discovered its true end in glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. A man who squanders his substance on that which satisfies only for a moment, and who will not receive the loving counsel of his own household, is like the prodigal who had not yet come to himself. The root of his childishness is a heart estranged from the Father, and until the Spirit of God quickens him, he will remain poor, blind, and naked, though he earn wages and dwell under your roof.
Do not think, however, that the case is beyond the reach of omnipotent grace. The same Lord who stretched forth His hands all the day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people has power to turn this young man from his folly. What he most needs is not merely a greater share of prudence, but a new nature. Prudence will not grow in the soil of the old man; it is a fruit of the Spirit. Pray therefore with mighty wrestlings that the Holy Ghost would empty the vessel of his self‑confidence, strip him of his imagined sufficiency, and lead him, bankrupt and undone, to the cross of Christ. There, and only there, will he find both the motive and the power to live as a sober and responsible man before God.
I charge you, do not content yourself with asking for a change in his outward conduct only. Millions are outwardly reformed who yet perish, for they are not reconcil’d to God. The God of peace has prepared all that is needful for perfect reconciliation through the blood of the everlasting covenant; the Son of God hath put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Tell your son, tell him again and again, that his truest poverty is not a lean bank-account but a soul laden with iniquity, and that Christ Jesus came to save sinners. Even now, the eye of the Father sees in that dying Son such an infinite propitiation that He is ready to forget the sins for which His Beloved gave His life. Oh, what a word of reconciliation is this! If the young man would but look to Jesus, he would find at once a full discharge and a glorious provision for every need, for He who spared not His own Son will with Him freely give us all things, including a wise and understanding heart.
As for his sister, and the strain within the household, remember that they who are led by the Spirit are the sons and daughters of God, and they alone bear the family likeness. Until both your children are born from above, you cannot expect the unbroken peace that flows from being united to Christ. Let your prayers, then, compass them both about. Gather the empty vessels of your children’s hearts before the Lord and cry to Him to fill them with the oil of grace until the supply is stayed because there is not another vessel to receive it. Do not cease your importunity until the whole family is brought into the bond of the covenant. A sister’s patience may wear thin, but the love of God shed abroad in the heart through the Holy Ghost will bear all things, believe all things, hope all things.
I bid you take courage. The Lord’s arm is not shortened. He hears the groaning of His children, and He delights to honour that faith which refuses to let go until the blessing descends. Set your face to seek the conversion of your son and the peace of your household, and look to the risen, pleading Son of God. Plead His name at the throne of grace, for the Father will never refuse anything that is asked in the name of His dear Son. Your son may despise your advice now, but a day can come, yea, it will come to those who pray, when he shall say, “I will arise and go to my Father.” Till then, bear with him in love, reprove him with tears, and hope against hope, remembering that the God who gave Isaac from the deadness of Sarah’s womb can yet make the wilderness of your son’s heart to blossom like the garden of Eden.