75156, didn't you once say you had a relative that brought you shame due to his poor behavior? Even though he was part of your family, you did not desire to see him continue to fall, nor in your heart wanted him to pay the consequences of that fall...even though you knew he must if he continued?
It's the same in our spiritual family as well. They are connected to us in such a way where we feel drug down with them at times, even though we are each individuals with our own call within that family. After all, they represent our family....something we hold dear. We grieve for them and want things made right by their acknowledgement of their sins and their repentance, because we know that is the only Way to get them back on the correct path once again.
God is there with each one of us during our lifetime. Waiting for our desire for Him to help us. Some people in name only...or in duty only will claim Him as theirs, when in reality they never knew Him. Because these people really thought it was by their goodness that they were saved. It was all to look godly on the outside to the world and pass the "world's" idea of "saved"...not the Word of God's idea of being saved and enduring to the end.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Galatians 3:27
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Isaiah 55:6-7
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Matthew 10:21-22
Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:12-13
And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
So may we all be patient and look to the Lord because we know that He wishes all would repent. He doesn't want any to perish....but perish they will, if they do not endure in true faith...unto the end.