***
So, there's Adam and Eve. After they did the ONE thing they were told not to do, they were separated from the most amazing relationship with God that they could have. The intended one. BUT, they were also separated from one another in perfect union. Imagine that realization. I can't because I've only lived the one way...the after-bite way.
They were embarrassed and scared and aware in a way they'd never been. All of these new emotions never intended for them were coursing through their bodies at one time!
I imagine God's attitude was
This is what your life will be like now. Hard. Pain. Work. Sweat. I'll multiply your pain in childbirth. Your union with me is different and your union with one another will mirror that. You devastated me and now you're separated from me. I created you for companionship Adam, and when that wasn't enough for YOU, I created Eve. And you've conspired against me for what? Knowledge? Taste?
And yet (He probably sighed)
...here are some clothes for you, I know you feel exposed.
What??? Love took the form of clothing. Did they deserve it? NO! It doesn't have to be big dramatic gestures. Just cover exposed places. He definitely met them where they were. At their lowest place, with no way out, a whole new world in front of them. He met them there and loved them by covering them. I love that about Him. He had every right to leave them naked, leave them exposed, just adding to what they were going through. But, He didn't. Again, I just love that!
***
Here is another view, one from the world today. God didn't create depression. More than the enemy, we probably did. We poison our own food with insecticides and hormones and God knows what else. We abuse caffeine, we work too hard, we cheat on our spouses, we pollute the very air we breathe, we rely on self-help books. And yet... He meets us there. Where?
*At that low point of being numb or in pain
*Not wanting to live the life He gave us
*He meets us dirty, unshowered, food containers around us, the DVR emptied because we've watched everything as we escape into a fake world
*Within the steady light of the internet
*He meets us in the glow of the porn we watch for relief
*Next to the needle used to make it all go away and as He holds us up so we don't fall into the toilet as we're puking into it
*And He's next to us as we cut ourselves and hate people and call His body of believers a cult and spend money we don't have and try our hardest to impress others
*And while we scream at our spouse and ignore our kids and force a smile as we face a congregation
*And when we're happy and are on the right path and honest
*And when we're hungry and stealing to feed our family and walking home alone
*And when we cry
*And as we ignore the most horrible situations right next door
*And when we raise our hands in worship on Sunday, while organizing our grocery lists
*And when we surrender
*And when we fight
*Andandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandnand...
THAT is where He meets us. THERE!!!! THOSE PLACES!!! So we should meet people there, too. I bet everyone that reads this has been somewhere in the above paragraph. I was. And I was met. He didn't make me do anything special or get cleaned up before He would meet with me.
You don't have to meet Jesus at an altar, it could be in the grocery store, in the parking lot of a church, when you're high, at the lowest point of depression, at the height of your career, wherever!
I was reading a book by Steven James and he replaced Jesus' name with love in a certain set of scriptures (if you've been to a wedding, you know them. In 1 Cor 13). Since God is love and Jesus is God, it's fitting. Listen to how this reads...
Jesus is patient
Jesus is kind
Jesus does not envy
Jesus does not boast
Jesus is not proud.
Jesus does not dishonor others
Jesus is not self-seeking
Jesus is not easily angered
Jesus keeps no record of wrongs.
Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth
Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Jesus never fails
Strive for these things as you meet people in a whole host of different places. Try to think like this as you meet them where they are. Pray that you see them as He sees them. That's my most intense prayer right now that I see people as Jesus does. I want every preconceived notion, every prejudice, every idea of what a certain person should be like to be slapped away by the weight of these words. Because so many people have accepted me how I am (they didn't want me to change first) and have accepted me where I am, I want to be that for people so I can show them a Savior like that, too. I haven't been doing a great job.
I'll ACCEPT them sure, once they come into the building, but I haven't been RUNNING AFTER THEM, desperate to show them love. I yearn for that kind of boldness. That nothing is more important in my life than making sure people know love and know hope. That people know Jesus.
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