Perfection Is Not a Prerequisite for Knowing GodSample

God Planned to Come to Us, Rescue Us, and Restore Us

Sin is a part of our nature. Rebellion is in us. And we can’t get free of it. Sin has us trapped, like a capsule with no hatch. John Eldredge and Brent Curtis, the two-man team who wrote The Sacred Romance, described it as being held in “dungeons of darkness.” The Bible calls it being locked up in “sin’s prison” (Romans 7:14).

Having made us, God knows what we are. And he loves what we are—as we are, not just as we “should” be or could be. Even when we struggle to love him back, God is still in love with each of us. His love is never conditional on our actions.

God loves his sons and daughters because they are his, because they exist, never because of anything they do.

God loves like the best human father, only much, much better. Perfectly. Infinitely.

He grieves our rebellion, of course. He despises the sin that plagues us. He laments the bad choices we make. He detests the separation we choose. But he doesn’t turn away. He doesn’t reject us for it. No, he turns toward. He sympathizes with our humanity—and offers something better than hiding. He doesn’t recoil; he leans in and offers help.

“It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us” (Ephesians 2:3-4). He came into our physical world as a physical man. He did what we couldn’t. He was perfect. Jesus came and lived among us and “committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22).

And then he did something astonishing. He turned it all around.

Jesus somehow drew every last bit of our rebellion and sin into one place: himself. He bore it all—past, present, future rebellion and sin. And when he died on that cross, all of it died too. He dealt with our sin. All of it. For all time.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). He sent the best of heaven into our broken world to break us out of sin’s prison. To break us free of sin and shame. “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again” (John 3:17).

Jesus died and rose again not only for us but also as us. Just as Adam represented the entire human race in failure and rebellion, Jesus represented us in victory and restoration—“by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

And this was always God’s plan, which he formed “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). He always knew we would rebel. He knew we would get into trouble. And he always planned to come for us, to rescue and restore us.

God did it (does it) for the same reasons any good human father would rescue a son or daughter from something dangerous or harmful. He does it because he doesn’t want us to be in a place of pain and separation. But he also does it because he can’t stand the idea of eternity—or even this life—without us. Without you.

He wants us to be united with him. God wants to be our father; he wants us to be his beloved sons. And when we break the father-son relationship, when we rebel against it, he comes after us. So that if we want to, we can be reunited.

Emmanuel. “God with us.” Abba. “Papa.”