Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (Luke 15:11-14)

Living For Astroturf

Satan has convinced many souls the grass is greener on the other side. The sentiment of the idiom suggests discontentment with life on this side of the fence and that everything would be so much better on the other side. Seeking the green grass, on the other side, is when a person believes others have it better than they do. Instead of working things out, they jump the fence to have a better life. The problem with looking at the grass on the other side is that it is not real. It is nothing more than astroturf or synthetic grass. The astroturf mimics and imitates natural grass, but it is artificial and unnatural.

In the parable of the prodigal son, a young man lives at home with a loving family and enjoys an easy life with plenty. He has an older brother. Dissatisfied with his life, he demands from his father the inheritance due him. This comes as a devastating blow to the father because the young son is acting as if his parents are dead. The father gives his son the inheritance, and the boy quickly leaves for a far country where he enjoys all the pleasures of life. As he leaves his home, the young man is thrilled to cross the fence into a world that is a better place. He knows there will be so much more joy and happiness in the greener pastures of tomorrow.

When the young man arrives in the far country, he immediately wastes his inheritance on every pleasure he can find. His friends suddenly multiply with his popularity. The grass really is greener on the other side, but something is amiss as he looks around. He does not see it at first because the grass seems greener than what he had at home. But this grass is different, and there is something false about it. He discovers in time, when the inheritance is gone, the grass he has been playing on is not real. It looks real, and it looks amazing – but it’s fake. Before he knows it, he is destitute, starving, and hiring himself out to feed hogs. There is no grass in a hog pen.

What the young man had at home was the real blessings of life. His father was full of love and benevolence. The hired servants who worked for his father were blessed with more bread than they could eat. He knew his father was a forgiving man. The young man realizes the deception of green grass is nothing more than a synthetic picture of a world that will never bring happiness. All the pleasures of life that he thought would bring him happiness were fake. There was no lasting happiness or joy. No one cared for the boy when he had no inheritance. He had been used and discarded to feed the swine. The young man found himself in the real world of friendship with the world.

Looking at the grass on the other side is coveting things that are fake. What the young man found in his life was the need to cultivate his acre of ground in his own life. He was blessed with a forgiving father who received him back with great joy. Jesus is telling us how much the heavenly Father loves us. When we seek to find joy in the pleasures of the world, we are dancing on astroturf. It is not real, it will never be real, and it cannot be made real. Nothing in the pleasures of life will bring joy. A man must learn to be content. The grass is not greener on the other side. It’s astroturf.