My birthday was this week, and last Saturday my parents surprised me by showing up at my birthday dinner, all the way from Maryland! We had a great, relaxed time being together during the week. After eating breakfast together this morning, they packed their car and drove away. Candace was already at work, and the house was completely quiet.
When my parents dropped me off at college in 2008, I knew I would miss them, but mainly felt excited. But more and more through the years, when I spend time with my family and then we go our separate ways, I just feel sad. Not sad about where we are in life or about the people God has placed around us or anything like that . . . but still sad that we can’t continue being together.
Why is that? What is it about our hearts that can be overcome with a sense of being alone, a feeling of sadness, and a longing for togetherness? I think it’s this: God made our hearts for closeness with one another.
When Adam had not yet sinned and when he lived in perfect fellowship with the Lord in the Garden of Eden, God said this: “It is not good for man to be alone.”
While it is undoubtedly true that God designed us to crave and be satisfied by having fellowship with Him, it’s equally true that God designed us to crave and be satisfied by having fellowship with other people.
While we may envision heaven in terms of our individual fellowship with Christ, the book of Revelation depicts the scene as people from all over the world and from every age in history fellowshipping with Christ together.
We were made for closeness with God. But the subtle ache of sadness that we feel when we have to go our separate ways teaches us this: Our closeness with God is enriched by our closeness with others! Let’s pursue closeness together, and look forward to the day when we don’t go our separate ways.