By Dr. Dan Coflin, River of Life Church
When I was young, I believed in God. I even believed in Jesus and his redemptive work to save me and forgive me of my sins, but I did not go to church out of fear that God would ask me to do something I did not want to do. I was afraid God might ask me to move to China or Africa and live in poverty or require of me something that would make my life miserable. I was afraid of God and thought that if I kept my distance, he would leave me alone.
What I did not know was that God knew all those things about me. He knew where I was and what I was thinking. Have you ever been afraid that God might ask you to sacrifice all the things you love to prove your willingness to serve him? I have discovered that a lot of people are.
Jesus did not come to make your life hard. He came so that you might “have life and have life more abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus came so that your relationship with God could be restored. Yes, it is true your sins separated you from God, but that was why Jesus came to receive the judgment for your sins, to give you his righteousness (rightness before God) and restore to you everything you had lost because of sin. God never intended for you to live a miserable life. Jesus took your curse of shame and guilt, sickness, and poverty and he did it for you. God’s greatest delight is you.
Adam hid himself from God after he sinned when he heard God walking in the garden. God called out, “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). God knew where Adam was and what he had done, but God called Adam from his hiding place, not to shame him, but to give him a promise. That promise was fulfilled with the completed work of Jesus. When Jesus said, “it is finished” the judgment for our sins was complete. When Jesus rose from the dead, death was defeated. When Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, we were forever changed and brought into God’s family. God is our Heavenly Father who is gracious and kind. He is not out to “get” you, He is out to “give” you what you so desperately need and desire.
God knows. The day Jesus was resurrected his disciples were hiding behind locked doors for fear. Those wooden barriers did not keep Jesus from appearing to them. One of them, Thomas, was not with the others that day. Later, when they excitedly explained to Thomas that they had seen Jesus, he refused to believe them and made this statement, “unless I put my fingers into the holes in his hands and put my hand into his wounded side I will not believe.”
Thomas’ unbelief did not stop Jesus from appearing to him eight days later. Although Jesus was not with the disciples when Thomas made his bold statement, he heard every word. Jesus called Thomas out from his unbelief and showed him his hands and his side. Jesus said to Thomas, “you have seen so now you believe, blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Usually, our greatest fears come from mistaken beliefs. I have been in ministry now for forty-five years. God did not send me to some remote region of the world, yet God did pull me out of hiding from his will and has given me my heart’s desire. It is in the will of God that we find life, and life more abundantly. Abundant life is ours by God’s design. God wants to pull you out from your fear and hiding into His purpose. “For I know what I have planned for you, says the Lord. I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Come on out from the things you are hiding behind and let God give you the things you most desire.