Non-believers and the Presence of God!

It may help us to consider how sinners stood in the presence of Jesus while He was on earth, for he was the full representation of God.

If we could ask the adulteress who was caught in the very act of sin, the prostitutes who were actively engaged in their profession, the tax collectors who were knowingly stealing from their fellow man, and all the other non-believers who Jesus ate and drank with. Would  they say; “being in His presence was the most liberating and freeing experience in their life.

Religious teachers seem to always preach in a way that evokes sinners to be afraid of God’s presence, as if God is an angry God who is waiting to punish them whenever they do wrong, and they have no right to stand in His holy presence; but the reality is God’s presence is the place that He longs for sinners to be. God does not consider Himself so “holy” a sinner can not stand in his presence; God understands the only way a “sinner” can ever be free is by having the right to stand in his presence!

Jesus is our picture of God. He is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of His being. Jesus allowed ‘sinners’ to walk with him and drink with him; he even publicly invited himself over to have dinner with them because He loved as God loves, to the disgust of the religious leaders. Maybe they were jealous because He chose the company of sinners over the religious leaders who thought they had everything figured out.

It’s sad that many preachers and religious teachers, those who want to speak on God’s behalf in this world, so often present God as one who is angry at sinners and judgmental towards them. Jesus however, presented God in a much different light; He presented God as a God of love and grace; a God who above all, loved, and loved passionately. 

Jesus knew that it was only through a person first encountering the true love of God that they can ever be free from sin. It was His love for sinners as to why He willingly subjected Himself to the death of the cross in order for them to become a part of Him! Love is powerful! Love transforms people from the inside out!

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