Finding God in the little things

Surprised To Meet God

I like reading or hearing stories about people who are not religious—people who were not looking for a spiritual experience—but they have an encounter with God. Believe it or not, God is capable of surprising people in this way. Sometimes He shows up in our lives when we never expected such a meeting.

He is not concerned with the religious trappings many people value. He’s more concerned that we recognize Him honestly in love, humility and repentance acknowledging the truth of who He is.

It’s cool to hear of people coming to God and finding that unexpectedly, it is actually more of a relief than they realized.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

We Should Not Make It Hard For People To Turn To God

Occasionally, I run into religious people who believe their task is to create barriers that make it difficult for people to connect with God. They seem to think they are protecting God if they make it difficult for people to turn to Him.

I understand people may be concerned that God’s wonderful love and grace could be misunderstood as something cheap and insignificant.  That concern is valid.  God’s love and grace are not cheap, they are extraordinary, beautiful, lavish and of priceless value.

However, the truth is God does not want to make it difficult for people to find Him.  It is God’s own Word that calls the salvation He offers to us a “free gift.”  It is God’s own word that tells us if we seek Him we will find Him.

The Apostle James made a point of instructing some people not to make it difficult for others to turn to God by imposing lots of religious rules.  Here is the passage…

“And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”  Acts 15:19  (If you take a moment to read the entire 15^th chapter of Acts you can get a little more of the context for this comment.)

God greatly desires that people would find Him.  So, we need to present the Gospel honestly and not make it anything less than what it really is.  Likewise, however, we do not need to create any unnecessary barriers.