Come Home

Did you ever run away from home? Many young people have. When things get overwhelming at home, the thought might cross our mind. Adults can also run away from home. 

One New Year’s Eve, just before midnight, I received a desperate phone call. As a young pastor of a small church, I had organized a watch-night service. The idea was that we would all be praying as the new year entered in. I answered the phone at a quarter to twelve. The woman on the phone was brokenhearted, wanting a pastor to come and pray with her. Her husband had come home drunk and announced that he couldn’t live another year with her.

While our little congregation prayed in the new year, my wife and I made a pastoral call. The husband was passed out in the bedroom while we talked and prayed with the mother of five children. That night, Jesus came into that home. The mother gave Him her heart. In the next few weeks, the oldest son found Jesus at the altar of the church. As time passed on, all the children got saved.

The husband was true to his word. He left the next day and never came back. He threw away a beautiful home.

Adam left the beautiful home God had made for him. All creation was made for Adam. I will never forget the first house my wife Donna and I were able to buy. It had been deserted for years. It was without form and void. It was about to be burned down and plowed under. All I could see was what it would be like all restored. It was a gift from God. When we finally got electricity in it we turned on a basement light. What a thrill! The light brought warmth into the room. This was going to be our home.

Imagine the thrill that God had as He created the home for Adam. All the necessities of life, beautifully and perfectly constructed, were for Adam. As soon as He could, he put Adam in this home. He immediately made a garden for Adam. He must have made tools for Adam, and showed him how to take care of the garden. Talk about fun.

However, God could see that Adam was lonely. He made him all kinds of pets and delighted to see what Adam would name them. Still, something was lacking. God then lovingly made a wife for Adam. Adam was thrilled. He called her “Woman.” He later named her “Eve” (the mother of all living). This was the perfect home that Adam and Eve chose to run away from.

There is a redeeming part to this picture. Genesis 3:9 says, “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, ‘Where art thou?’” That, my friend, is the call of love from the broken heart of God. I wish I could have heard that call. I don’t believe it was a demanding voice of wrath. Before this call, they heard Him walking in the cool of the day. In their attempt to cover their nakedness, they sewed fig leaves to make aprons. The choice was really theirs to leave the garden.

Before they left, God made clothes for them from animal skins, still wanting the best for them. Today God wants the best for you and me, for our home, our church, and our country. The trouble is we have run away from home. We have run away from God. Praise God, He still calls, “Where art thou?” “Come home, my child!” “Come home, my Church!” “Come home, America!”

God is creating a new home. Jesus is building it also. He invites us to be His bride and live with Him forever. 

Come home, come home. 
You who are weary, come home. 
Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, 
Calling, O sinner, come home!

-Will Lamartine Thompson