God Is Here! Shembull

GOD is there

I still remember her heartbreaking words: “I keep jumping to reach God, but I feel like I’ll never get there.” The woman from my church knew she fell short of Jesus’ high standard of love every day. And she felt that GOD, a glorious and good God, was so far away she’d never get to him. 

Ever felt that? When we mess up spiritually, especially when we know better, the most natural thing in the world is to feel what that woman felt. After all, Isaiah said, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God” (59:2). Maybe you feel that today. Maybe something from way back—your abortion, your divorce, the words that came out of your mouth to your dad or about someone of another race or towards your ex. Or maybe it’s something from just now. Some default setting to control or get the last word or make a big deal out of nothing or keep score instead of showing grace. You know you have issues, and you assume God is taking a step back, just like everyone else would.

If that’s you, listen to Jesus’ friend Peter: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). To bring you to God. Not just to bring him or her or them to God. You. Your sins separated you, but Jesus suffered for your sins. Jesus took them out of the picture. He didn’t make you crawl up the morality ladder to get up to him. He came down to get to you. Because of Jesus, GOD is here!