The APROACHABLE God

Our view of God has changed over the centuries. I can still remember reading Puritan

Jonathan Edward’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and more recently being told by a husband, who was leaving his wife of 30 years, that he was convinced that God wanted him happy and not bitter and that God told him to “get rid of everything in his lifethat made him bitter”. When I pressed him on the consequences of his actions he replied, “God is good, He’ll forgive me.” Hopefully, you can see the extremes.

Sometimes our perceptions of God as Father are grounded in our experiences, or lack

thereof, with our earthly fathers. Good experiences? Good God. Abuse? Bad God.

It occurs to me that how we view God might better be shaped by what the Scriptures teach us about Him. As we teach and preach through Ephesians, it’s pretty clear, that God is a choosing God, an including God, a transforming God and as chapter 3 teaches, God is an approachable God. We are able in Christ Jesus to approach God with FREEDOM and CONFIDENCE. The door is open because of what Christ has done. The walls are torn down.

This is a mystery. It does not make sense. God is Holy. We are not. He is the King. We are

beggars standing at the gate with hat in hand. BUT JESUS is knocking at the door. He’s

standing at the GATE and sayin’ “Come on in, I want you to meet my Dad. Don’t worry the walls aren’t going to fall down!”

Could it also be possible that folks outside the sheep pen have developed a view of God

that is confined to their interactions with His children? Ghandi rejected Christianity

because of his interactions with Christians while working in South Africa. They rejected him due to the color of his skin. And so its necessary that I ask myself, “Is my life reflecting Jesus? Is it worth imitating? What kind of ambassador am I?”

When I’m challenged like this and become convinced that I need to make adjustments, I

also need to think about it. It’s hard to think. There are so many distractions. Even good

things can distract. In order to do absolute, clear, thinking I need solitude. I need to think away from the distractions, being able to focus. This is not easy. Where can I go? Especially if there are children around!

Sometimes the bathroom is the only place “surely no one will

bug me there!” Wrong...lol.

The APROACHABLE God is available to you today, right now.