Come Home

This post is from the current edition of The Message.

Have you ever noticed that when you are separated from your normal routine you miss some people or things more than others? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Absence will cause you to miss some things intensely, such as your husband or wife, your kids, high calorie/ high fat desserts. Absence will cause you to miss other things less and less. You didn’t miss not going to the dentist, did you? We say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  But does it?

  It all depends on your personal passion.

  The observation is true, “Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, just as the wind blows out a candle and fans a fire.” Some who once had a passion for the Lord and His church are absent from both. Whether the wind of absence extinguishes your fire or fans it depends on your passion for God. If your passion for God, His people, and His activity is a little passion, you may already be growing comfortable in your absence. You may already be comfortable in filling the Lord’s day with the newspaper, reruns, and ball games.

  But if your passion for God, His people, and His activity is a great passion, you may already be growing increasingly uncomfortable in your absence. You may be continuously pressed with the nagging conclusion that you’re missing out on something meaningful, missing out on experiences and relationships that are irreplaceable. If you are, it is because you still have a great passion for God.

  So come back home. It’s never too late. It says in the Bible, “‘Return to me and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Mal.3:7). So come back home. You’ll find friends here. And you’ll find people who share your passion for God.