God's Story: The God Who Meets Us

The events covered in chapter two of The Story, titled “God Builds A Nation,” revolve around Abraham and his family. In this, and a follow up post, I will draw on two aspects from the sermon from 9/15/13.

First, we will look at how the God of the Bible is a God who meets us where we are at. In other words, God does not expect us to figure everything out, or get rid of all sin in our lives, or drop our friends, or anything like that before we come to Him. If these things were the case, no one would ever come to God. Yet a sad reality is how these, and similar false beliefs, are what keep many people in our culture away from God.

While it is often said in jest, there is some truth behind a person joking about showing up in church and having it burn down. I am not saying the building would burn down. Rather, what this reveals is a false perception shared by many (even many in The Church) that somehow we have to be good enough for God to have anything to do with us – let alone love us.

However, let us consider Abraham. Did you know that after God called Abraham (named Abram at the time) and he left all he knew, that Abraham did not trust in God and took matters into his own hands by lying to preserve his life? (And this was no small lie as it momentarily jeopardized God’s plan to work through Abram – just think if Sarai had become pregnant by Pharaoh...)  

Now, we could make a biblical case-study for how you can lie and be materially blessed (seriously, read about it in Genesis 12:10-20), OR we can see God is a God who meets people where they are. Although Abraham responded in faith to God’s call, he still needed to trust God more. Thankfully God is big enough to work in spite of our imperfections. No doubt about it, Abraham’s life was not all in order...but God still pursued and worked through him.

So what about you?

One thing the Christmas Season shows us – and yes it is still Christmas until January 6^th – is that the God of the Bible is a God who meets people where they are. After all, Jesus left the riches of heaven to invade the slums of earth and meet people, from all walks of life, right where they were. This was certainly an unexpected twist in God’s Story. But when it comes to God...it seems we ought to expect the unexpected.