According
to the Pew Research Center, 25-35-year-old Millennials are more likely than
previous generations to live at home with their parents. As of 2016, 15% of those in this age range
lived with their parents, compared to 15% of Gen-Xers in 2000, 11% of
late-Boomers in 1990, 8% of early-Boomers in 1981, and 8% of the Mature/Silent
Generation in 1964. According to the
same research, they are not only boomeranging, recovering, and moving back
out—but they are either remaining in their parents’ homes or moving back in for
a median of three years.[i] Many factors contribute to this trend,
including an increased demand for college degrees, which delays marriage for
many millennials. According to CNBC’s
Jessica Dickler,
In addition,
sluggish wage growth and sky-high rents in many urban centers have made it
unaffordable for some recent graduates to move out on their own. Even as hiring
picks up, wages for new college grads have not budged, when adjusted for
inflation, from prerecession levels, according to the Economic Policy
Institute.
Then there are the
hefty student loan bills from school, which are at an all-time high, putting a
severe strain on most recent graduate's financial circumstances. Seven in 10
seniors graduate with debt, owing about $29,000 per borrower, according to the
most recent data from the Institute for College Access & Success.
From a financial
perspective, moving back home can provide millennials with an opportunity to
start paying back loans and build up an emergency fund with a goal of getting
to independence.[ii]
But it’s
not just poor, struggling Millennials who are moving back home. In London, Prince William and his wife Kate,
the Dutchess of Cambridge, have moved into an apartment in Kensington Palace,
where he grew up. William’s brother,
Prince Harry, has also taken an apartment in the same palace, just like Diana
and Charles did before him.
Historically, multi-generational living is much more prevalent than what
we think of as the two-generational norm.
From peasants to royalty, parents and children have lived in the same
household along with grandparents and great-grandparents. As I write this, I’m blessed to have my
Millennial and Generation Z children and grandchildren living in my home—and I
wouldn’t change a thing about it (not just now). I’m glad to have a house with so many rooms,
where multiple generations of my family can live and thrive.
Jesus’
words in John 14:1-14 have brought comfort to people throughout the
generations. They have also inspired
songs like “Mansion Over the Hilltop” by Ira Stanphill, which promotes a
materialistic and wealth-based notion of heaven; and “Big Big House,” by Audio
Adrenaline, which humorously depicts God having a “big big yard, where we can
play football.” Theologians have debated
over the meaning of the word “mansion,” but I like the New Living Translation,
in which Jesus says, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If
this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for
you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always
be with me where I am (vv. 2-3).”[iii]
“More
than enough room” describes more than just the Father’s house—it describes the
Father’s heart. Some believe that God
only wants to save a few, but the Bible I read describes a God whose love is so
great that God wants to save everyone.
Jesus says in John 12:32, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I
will draw everyone to myself." In
Matthew 18:14, Jesus says, “It is not my heavenly Father's will that even
one of these little ones should perish.”
While I have difficulty with universalism which teaches complete
salvation for everyone (this violates human free will), I do believe that God’s
embrace would be big enough, if every human being who ever lived would come to
accept God’s unconditional love. There’s
more than enough room with God.
Jesus
describes the way that everyone can come and live in the Father’s house. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known
me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen
him (vv. 6-7)!” He continues to
explain that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father. This is because Jesus and the Father are
one. It’s a remarkable claim to be the
only way to the Father—but this is because Jesus so perfectly represents the
Father, that anyone who imagines God apart from Jesus is missing the full
picture. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For
God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to
reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of His cross.” God is a peace-making God, loving the
world enough to die for it. God fully
exemplified this love in the demonstration of forgiveness Jesus showed on the
cross, exonerating the very people who crucified him. There can be no greater expression of love
and grace than that.
Unfortunately,
people try all kinds of other ways to reach God—through good works, through
pious acts of religion. But Jesus says
the only way to the Father is through Him—through receiving and sharing God’s
grace as perfectly demonstrated through Jesus. The only way to understand God is to
understand God as we have seen God in the person of Jesus. Those who want to depict God as a warlike,
vengeful, alienating kind of God aren’t really grasping who God is. The only way to the Father is through
Jesus—the God who reconciles and loves.
Anything other than this isn’t really God—simply a transference of our
tribal hierarchies and rules onto our notion of a God that we’ve created in the
image of our kings and judges. You can’t
reach God except through the gracious Savior, who isn’t a finger-shaking
heavenly magistrate, but the one who invites us to the table in God’s “big, big
house.”
[i]Fry,
Richard. “It’s becoming more common for
young adults to live at home – and for longer stretches.” May 5, 2017. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/05/its-becoming-more-common-for-young-adults-to-live-at-home-and-for-longer-stretches/. July 19, 2017.
[ii]Dickler,
Jessica. “More college grads move back
home with mom and dad” June 11,
2016. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/10/more-college-grads-move-back-home-with-mom-and-dad.html. July 19, 2017.
[iii]
All scripture quotations are taken from the NLT.
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