I never understood the sadness until my own children were grown and out on their own. But giving me a preview of coming emotions, my mom showed me how sad she would become every time I left home after a weekend visit. I thought she was being overly emotional. I now share her feelings whenever my sons leave after a visit home.

My wife and I miss those days when our sons lived at home; we miss the closeness, and being a part of each other’s lives. My purposes in my relationships with my sons have evolved as they’ve grown from babies into men. However, one thing that never changes is my overwhelming desire to be with them and to show my love for them.

God is patient, kind, compassionate, humble, unbiased, all-forgiving, and protective—such is God’s character. God’s primary purpose, the one that His character and other purposes point to, is to live with us and express His unconditional love for us. God’s purpose is to have His children return home. As Jesus said, “and we will come to them and make our home with them.” And God makes a way for us to return, to the way it was in the beginning, before Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. As Andrew Murray said:

“When God established the plan of redemption, His objective was to restore man to the place from which he had fallen.” ¹

To restore us to the place from which humanity had fallen, to bring His children back home—this is what salvation, God’s ultimate purpose, is all about.

“My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40)

“For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9 NRSV)

 

Footnote

1. Andrew Murray, Andrew Murray Devotional, (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House), © 2006, devotional for February 4

(Excerpt from “Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity.”)

https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Graffiti-churched-Christians-Christianity-ebook/dp/B0DK7VD71B

 

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