Lessons from Parables: The Lost Son and the Entrepreneur’s Journey
The Bible is filled with parables, and each parable holds timeless truths, simple stories that carry profound spiritual and practical wisdom. Parables are not just religious stories; they are mirrors reflecting how life truly works. They help us understand who God is, how He operates, and how we should respond to life’s ups and downs.
https://www.grinapay.com/Jesus often used parables to teach His disciples and the crowd about the kingdom of God. He knew that sometimes, the deepest truths are better understood through stories: stories that reflect the realities of everyday life.
Today, I want us to reflect on one of the most powerful and relatable parables ever told: the Parable of the Lost Son, also known as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:10–24).
Someone once said that this parable is the crown jewel of all parables, and rightly so. It is a story of pride, loss, realization, redemption, and restoration. It’s also a story that mirrors the journey of many entrepreneurs and dreamers who set out to build something great, lose their way, and eventually find their purpose again.
The Story: Walking Away from Love and Guidance
The parable begins with a young man saying to his father,
“Father, give me my share of the inheritance.”
At first glance, this may seem like a harmless request. But if you look deeper, you’ll see the weight of what he was saying. In essence, he was saying:
“I want what belongs to me, but I don’t want you anymore.”
He wanted the blessings of his father without his father's presence.
He wanted freedom without accountability, wealth without wisdom, and success without submission.
And so, his father, loving and patient, gave him what he asked for.
This is profound because God sometimes allows us to have what we insist on, even if it leads to our humbling. He lets us explore our independence so that we can truly understand the value of His guidance when we finally come back.
The young man took his inheritance, traveled to a far country, and began to live wildly.
Money flowed, and with it came friends, both real and fake. His expenses grew, his lifestyle expanded, and he felt unstoppable.
He finally had the life he dreamed of:
👱No rules.
👱No accountability.
👱No restrictions.
👧Only freedom… or so he thought.
Let’s pause and reflect.
How often do we act like this in our own lives and businesses?
When we first taste success, we sometimes believe we’ve figured it all out. We start taking titles, spending recklessly, and chasing appearances instead of purpose.
We build houses we may never live in, buy cars we don’t need, attend conferences for validation rather than growth, all in a bid to “look successful.”
In the startup world, this happens too:
Many entrepreneurs, after raising their first round of funding or launching their product, begin to lose touch with the discipline and humility that got them started. The long nights of coding, the prayers, the passion, and the patience suddenly get replaced with pride and the illusion of control.
We start to believe the story of our own greatness.
Until… everything changes.
In the parable, there came a moment when the money was gone. The friends disappeared. The excitement faded. Reality hit.
The young man found himself alone, broke, hungry, and ashamed.
He got a job feeding pigs, the lowest and most humiliating job possible for a Jewish man at the time.
But sometimes, God lets us hit rock bottom so that we can look up again.
One morning, as he sat among the pigs, starving and broken, he realized something:
“How many of my father’s servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!”
This was his wake-up call, the moment of self-awareness that every entrepreneur, every leader, and every person eventually faces.
In that moment, he said to himself,
“I will arise and go to my father.”
This statement changed everything.
He didn’t just realize that he was in a bad place; he decided to do something about it.
https://www.grinapay.com/This mirrors the story of many founders who, after failure, disconnection, or pride, eventually rediscover the purpose that drove them in the first place.
When the investor money is gone, the market rejects your idea, or your team falls apart, that’s when humility begins to grow.
👱You realize that innovation without discipline is chaos.
👱Vision without character is vanity.
👱And passion without patience is destruction.
It is in that place of brokenness that true wisdom is born.
Now, this is the most beautiful part of the story.
As the son was still a long way off, the father saw him and ran to him!
💗He didn’t wait for explanations.
💗He didn’t ask, “Where’s the money?”
💗He didn’t say, “I told you so.”
He simply embraced him and said:
“This is my son, who was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
That’s how God welcomes us when we return to Him, with open arms and no condemnation.
In the same way, when we as entrepreneurs or leaders finally humble ourselves and return to our true purpose — to serve, to create value, to love people through our products and services, life begins to align again.
What the Lost Son Learned
The young man’s return wasn’t just physical; it was emotional, spiritual, and mental.
He came back with a new mindset. He now understood the value of:
👱Love: The love of the father that never wavered, even when he failed.
👱Relationship: The power of community, family, and people who genuinely care.
👱Guidance: The wisdom that comes from being teachable and listening.
👱Control: The discipline to manage blessings responsibly.
👱Humility: The strength to admit you were wrong and seek forgiveness.
This transformation is what God desires for us, not perfection, but a heart that returns.
Let’s translate this into our world of innovation, startups, and entrepreneurship.
Every founder begins with a dream, a spark that feels divine. But as time goes on, the pressures of business, the chase for funding, and the temptation to “fit in” with the world’s idea of success often lead us astray.
We may find ourselves saying,
“I want to do this my own way.”
We disconnect from mentors, stop seeking wisdom, and become driven by ego rather than vision.
And then, the system collapses.
Your startup fails, investors pull out, users lose trust, or your team disbands.
In that painful moment, you realize you left the very principles that made you start in the first place.
But here’s the good news:
Just like the prodigal son, you can always return.
Here are a few subtle signs that, like the lost son, you might be drifting away from your core purpose:
💔You stop listening to advice or mentorship.
💔You focus more on appearance than value.
💔You spend energy competing rather than creating.
💔You isolate yourself from your team or community.
💔You lose gratitude and start complaining often.
💔You value recognition over impact.
These are small but dangerous shifts that can lead to “spiritual bankruptcy”, a place where you’re running your business but have lost your peace.
When the son returned home, he came not as a prince but as a servant.
That’s what humility does: it changes your posture before God and people.
And when he returned, the father didn’t care about the past. He didn’t lecture him or remind him of his mistakes.
He simply celebrated him.
In the same way, God is not interested in how you failed, but how you return.
He doesn’t keep score; He restores.
So if you feel lost in your life, in your faith, or in your entrepreneurial journey, remember this:
It’s not too late to return. Your Father is waiting with open arms.
To make this even clearer, let’s draw out some practical lessons for those of us walking the startup path:
👍Don’t walk away from wisdom.
Just because you’ve raised funds or gained traction doesn’t mean you no longer need guidance. Stay teachable. Stay accountable.
👍Guard your heart against pride. Pride blinds us. It tells us we can do it all alone. Humility, on the other hand, keeps us grounded and connected.
👍Don’t mistake noise for success.
Many people will celebrate you for what they can gain, not for who you truly are. Learn to discern.
👍Failure is not final.
Sometimes your lowest moment is God’s greatest classroom. Don’t despise the season of correction.
👍Return quickly.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to go back to your values, your mentors, your God, and your calling.
The Daily Return
Humility isn’t a one-time act; it’s a daily practice.
Every morning, you have to wake up and say:
“Father, lead me today. Keep me from pride. Remind me that I’m just a steward, not the owner.”
When you do that, you stay grounded, even when success comes.
The story of the prodigal son ends beautifully with a feast, but our story continues with a cross.
When Christ was crucified, His hands were nailed wide open.
That image is eternal. His arms are forever open, waiting for you to come home.
It is a message to every lost soul, every failed founder, every wandering dreamer:
“You can always return.”
He’s not counting your mistakes. He’s counting the moments until you return to His love and purpose.
Maybe you’ve wandered in your faith, your startup, or your personal life. Maybe you’ve been feeding “pigs” lately, doing things beneath your potential, living in regret, wondering if you’ll ever rise again.
But here’s the truth:
You can always go home.
When you realize your wrongs, when your heart is broken enough to listen again, when you remember where you came from, the Father runs toward you.
💖He will never let go.
💖He will clothe you again in grace.
💖He will restore what you lost.
💖And He will throw a celebration not because of what you bring, but because you returned.
👍The parable of the lost son mirrors the entrepreneur’s journey, from pride and independence to humility and restoration.
👍Success without guidance leads to emptiness.
👍Hitting rock bottom is often the beginning of wisdom.
👍Humility opens the door to divine restoration.
👍God's purpose, or calling, will never let go when you return.
Remember: No matter how far you’ve gone, your Father’s arms are still open.
Return when it’s time. He’s waiting for you.
David Olumati Nwanguma
Founder @Grinapay
https://www.grinapay.com/
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