Today’s blog post explores the notion that God longs for every child to come home. First, we look at a passage of scripture. Then I include a brief devotional from Watchman Nee. Then we discuss the challenging question of what happens when someone lives without the opportunity to know God?
God’s Longing
Bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. Luke 15.23, 24.
Watchman Nee’s Devotion
Let me give you a new thought today, which is the joy of God. On the night I was saved, the more I thought about it the merrier I became and the more I sang. I did not mind if there were neither rhyme nor tune. And such is the joy of being saved. Nevertheless, this Scripture verse tells us that it was the father who was joyful. It is therefore the joy of God in His saving a soul that is being expressed here. We usually think when a sinner is saved, how glad he is, and how glad we are. We fail to realize how joyful God the Father also is when He saves a sinner. If we see this, we can begin to understand the Father’s heart.
God Longs for Every Child to Come Home
In Luke 15, Jesus paints three unforgettable pictures of divine love: the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find one lost sheep, the woman who searches her home for a missing coin, and the father who runs to embrace his wayward son. These aren’t just stories of human loss—they reveal the very heart of God. Watchman Nee, reflecting on these passages, emphasized the deep joy in heaven when even one sinner repents. This isn’t a distant deity pleased by numbers; it’s a Father rejoicing over a child who was lost and is now found. God longs for every child to come home.
But this raises a hard question: What about those who never hear the gospel? If the Father celebrates one returning, wouldn’t He do all He could to reach every lost child?
God Reaches Through Creation
Scripture gives us glimpses of a God who communicates through more than just words. Romans 1:20 tells us that God’s eternal power and divine nature are visible in creation itself—enough for people to recognize that there is a Creator.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
And Romans 2:14-15 explains that even those without the law show the law written on their hearts. In other words, conscience whispers the voice of the Father.
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.
God is not limited by geography, time, or even language. Throughout history, people in far corners of the world have responded to dreams, visions, and inner conviction. We may not understand all the ways God moves, but we can trust that He does move, and always with love. Just as a parent finds ways to speak to a distant child, God finds ways to call hearts home. God longs for every child to come home.
God Knows Their Hearts
C.S. Lewis explores the idea that individuals may respond to God without knowing His name. In his novel The Last Battle, the final book of The Chronicles of Narnia series, Lewis introduces a character named Emeth. He is a Calormene soldier who has faithfully served the god Tash throughout his life. Upon entering Aslan’s Country (a representation of heaven), Emeth encounters Aslan (the Christ figure in Narnia) and expresses his concern that his devotion to Tash would be displeasing to Aslan. Aslan responds:
Wikipedia
But I said, ‘Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash.’ He answered, ‘Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.’ I said, ‘Is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one?’ The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, ‘It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites—I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him.’
This passage suggests that sincere acts of goodness and truth, even when performed in the name of another deity, are ultimately accepted by the true God. Lewis uses Emeth’s story to illustrate the concept that individuals who earnestly seek truth and righteousness, albeit under a different name or understanding, are, in essence, seeking God Himself.
The Mystery of Salvation
Additionally, in Mere Christianity, Lewis touches upon the mystery of salvation for those who have not explicitly known Christ:
We do know that no person can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him.
This statement reflects Lewis’s acknowledgment of the limitations of human understanding regarding God’s grace and the workings of salvation. He emphasizes that while salvation is through Christ, it is not for humans to definitively determine the boundaries of His mercy. Through these writings, Lewis conveys the idea that God’s grace may extend beyond human comprehension, reaching those who, in their pursuit of truth and goodness, are unknowingly drawing near to Him.
Jesus is the only way to the Father, but we trust the Father to judge rightly. He sees through ignorance, pain, trauma, and confusion. He knows who is running from Him—and who is running toward Him, even without knowing it. His justice is perfect. His mercy is beyond what we can imagine. And ultimately, God longs for every child to come home.
A Deeper Dive Into C.S. Lewis’ Idea
Let’s break down this idea a bit further, because it is so important. When I first encountered it, I questioned whether it made sense logically. Here it is again: “We do know that no person can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him.”
What Lewis is Saying
First Clause: “We do know that no person can be saved except through Christ.”
This affirms a core Christian belief: salvation comes only through the work of Jesus Christ—His death and resurrection. No human effort, alternative deity, or spiritual path can save a person. Christ is the only source of salvation.
Second Clause: “We do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him.”
Here Lewis introduces mystery and humility. He’s saying: just because Christ is the sole means of salvation, that doesn’t mean only those who have consciously heard of Jesus and profess belief in Him are saved. God may save people through Christ without their explicit knowledge of Him—perhaps through the Spirit working in their hearts, through their response to the moral law written on their hearts (as in Romans 2:14–16), or through a sincere seeking of truth and goodness that ultimately points back to Christ.
Does It Make Sense Logically?
Yes—Lewis is distinguishing between two different claims:
Ontological claim (what is): Salvation is only possible through Christ.
Epistemological claim (what we know): We do not fully know how Christ applies that salvation to each person.
He’s drawing a line between the necessity of Christ and the limits of human understanding about how salvation works in every case. This invites humility in our judgments about who can be saved.
Analogy
Imagine a person in a remote land who has never heard of penicillin. If they are dying of an infection but are given the drug without knowing what it is, and they recover—they were saved by penicillin, even though they never knew its name. Lewis is saying something similar about Jesus.
Theological Consistency
This idea is consistent with scriptures that describe God’s mercy as vast (Psalm 103:8–12), that He desires all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), and that He judges the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). It also honors Jesus’s unique role without putting human knowledge above divine mercy.
We Are God’s Witnesses
Even as we trust God’s mysterious work in hidden places, our role remains urgent: we are the light of the world, the hands and feet of Christ. When we live lives marked by compassion, humility, and joy, we become signposts pointing the way home. Evangelism is not about arguing people into the kingdom—it’s about revealing the Father’s heart through our own.
When we reflect the joy of the shepherd, the persistence of the woman, and the embrace of the waiting father, others begin to believe that maybe—just maybe—they are wanted too. And they are. No one is forgotten. Not the one on the edge of a jungle, nor the one on the edge of despair in your own neighborhood. Because always, unshakably, and forever: God longs for every child to come home.
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