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“I’m sorry God, but You can’t see me like this, I’m covered in sin right now. Let me head over to confession, get cleaned up, then maybe we can talk.”
Have you found yourself saying something similar to God as the guilt of your sins slowly creep into your life? If you have, take comfort in the fact that you are definitely not alone!
Looking at the lives of Adam and Eve, we see that they were able to experience the true presence of God in a way that no one else after them has been able to. Being created in God’s own image without the stain of sin, they had an unparalleled connection with God. Having this profound relationship, they were able to see and understand the heart of God and experience pure love.
Although they knew the heart of God and understood the depth of God’s love for them, when sin entered, it distorted their perception of God and convinced them to hide away from Him. Nevertheless, His love for them remained.
“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:8
When guilt begins to lurk in every corner, you may have experienced a similar reaction of trying to run and hide from the presence of God despite knowing His love for you is never changing. However, the beauty of our God is that as you run away from Him, He relentlessly chases after you.
“But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘where are you?’” Genesis 3:9
Now we see that although sin had entered and caused a divide between man and God, God still went out in pursuit of them. When Adam and Eve’s first reaction was to run away from God, God’s first reaction was to go out in search of them.
See, the heart of God is not one of condemnation but one of love. He is looking not to punish us, but to cast sin away so we can enter into His fullness. When sin enters into our lives it causes a divide between us and God because sin cannot stand in the presence of God’s purity. This however, does not mean that God pushes you away, but through His immense love for you, He desires you all the more.
Though sin may break His heart, still He comes out in search of you to find you in the darkest shadow and hold you in His deep embrace. He holds you not because you are clean and perfect, but because nothing could diminish His extravagant love for you. Sin and guilt does not have the last word for His love remains.
His love remains.
God’s love for you remains.
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to seperate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38