God desires to give us, his children, everything—including eternal life in heaven with him.

“It hurts to say this, but we’d like to write our daughter in Oregon out of our wills.”

I heard these words, spoken reluctantly, from a clearly heartbroken retired couple more than 30 years ago, as I sat with them in their living room. As they poured me a cup of coffee, their pain also poured out of them.

Longing for a relationship

The couple explained, “We almost never hear from our daughter, and we have rarely seen our grandchildren.”

They seemed embarrassed and ashamed that their daughter had turned her back on them. They had good relationships with their other children and grandchildren. However, with this daughter, things were different. “Over and over, we have asked to be a part of her life,” they continued, “but she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want anything to do with us.” They had tried to build a relationship. They sent cards, letters, and presents for birthdays and holidays. They called, invited her home, and also offered to travel to visit her. She refused everything; she wouldn’t even acknowledge their gifts. Her only contact occurred when she needed money. They longed for a real relationship with her, but she was not willing. In response, the parents reluctantly and sadly agreed to respect their daughter’s choice.

Under the law, children are known as natural heirs. It is presumed, due to their blood relationship, that they inherit from their parent’s estates. In fact, most of the wills I have written made equal provisions for all children in a family. The law recognizes and prefers this natural relationship. For this retired couple, though, things were different. While the parents longed for a relationship with their daughter, she chose a life of separation from them.

Isn’t this the same story that God replays in his heart when people reject him? It is a story as old as the Bible. It played out in the pages of the Old Testament when the ancient Hebrews pursued idols and rejected God’s love—leading to their exile. “Because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon” (Ezra 5:12). It happened in the New Testament when the Jews rejected Jesus as their Savior, something Jesus called out during Holy Week: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37).

It still happens today every time people reject his love and sacrifice—when they choose to live according to what today’s world says is more important and pursue their own idols. It plays out when we give in to the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh and turn away from our Father.

But even though we sometimes push God away, we are still God’s dear children. He loves us and longs to spend time with us—both now and in eternity.

Welcoming us back

While my former clients omitted their daughter from their wills, their hearts also held out hope that she would someday change her mind and come back to them. They told me that if she reached out to them, they would eagerly welcome her back and include her, equally, with the other children in their wills.

God, in his heavenly and eternal will and testament, has provided for us. His plan is to bring us home to him.

God’s love for us is the same. God never gives up on us. He is forever faithful and always willing to welcome us back. Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son drives home this exact point (Luke 15:11-32). No matter where we have gone, what we have done, or how long we have been separated, God will always eagerly throw his arms around us and joyfully welcome us back into his loving embrace. It is never too late to return.

However, God will not force us to love him. While he desires that everyone be saved and spend eternity with him, he allows people to choose to reject him and to spend eternity separated from him. As C. S. Lewis so succinctly stated, “The doors of hell are locked from the inside” (The Problem of Pain).

Making us heirs

God, in his heavenly and eternal will and testament, has provided for us. His plan is to bring us home to him. This plan has existed before the world began. Jesus died so that we might not just return to him but also be heirs with him. As the apostle Paul explained, “So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

Now God’s will and testament lists us by name because we belong to him (Isaiah 43:1). We are his children. “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

As God’s children, we are also his heirs. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17).

What will our inheritance be like as a co-heir of Jesus? We can’t even imagine. “ ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We do know that there will be no more pain, sorrow, or tears. Our true inheritance, as God’s children and co-heirs with Jesus, is spending eternity in the presence of our ever-loving heavenly Father.

That is his will for us.

Author: Greg Galler
Volume 113, Number 09
Issue: September 2026
Image: Lightstock