Breakfast at Tiffany’s: God’s relationally redemptive character

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Revelation 21:3

When I was a newly transformed believer in Christ I wanted to turn the world upside down for God. Though I meant well, my zeal could be off-putting to people at times. This seemed like a minor issue in comparison to my noble mission of saving the world. If someone got hurt or mad because I preached at them (and preach at them I did), it was their problem and not mine because I was simply trying to be obedient to the calling on my life. However, years of experience have changed my perspective on what “world-saving” is all about. Was I wrong in wanting to tell people about Jesus? Of course not, but my approach was certainly not always ideal. I’m thankful that God is patient with us as we mature from baby Christians into spiritual adulthood. I also pray I didn’t leave anyone with a permanently bitter taste in their mouth toward God or Christianity.

Hindsight is 20/20. Now I can see that the people most impacted by any attempt on my part in fulfilling the great commission were the ones I built solid relationships with–relationships devoid of religiosity. When wrapped up in God-pleasing (also, not wrong in essence), weeds of legalism can start to choke out sincerity, and the people we are simply meant to love become nothing more than another obligatory task on our list of things we think make God pleased with us. However, a crash course in how the Bible reveals the relational character of God toward humanity may prove this soul-winning technique unpleasant to His palette and vastly ineffective.

From Genesis to Revelation, God makes known his desire to dwell with humanity in a relationally redemptive way, and he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty in the process. After forming Adam from the dust, God is there in the garden interacting and communicating with him (Genesis 1-2). When the man and his wife disobeyed, perverting their once perfect relationship with their Creator, God acts redemptively on their behalf, shedding the blood of an animal to make clothing to cover their nakedness and shame (3:21). Though their sin came with inevitable punishment, it also came with a promise pointing to the ultimate redemption that would come through Jesus (3:15).

Later through the tabernacle and then the temple, God makes a way to dwell with his people saying, “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God” (Exodus 29:45-46). Once again, through the shedding of an animal’s blood during the priestly sacrifice in the tabernacle and temple, we see God’s relationally redemptive character.

There are countless more examples throughout scripture, but the literal embodiment of God’s relationally redemptive character is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

So, how does God expect us to reach the world for him? With the same kind of passion and relentless love that he has for them; a willingness to get our hands dirty and even suffer to the point of shedding our own blood if we have to. We are the chosen extensions of his relationally redemptive character to the world, bringing his light and truth to one precious soul at a time, bringing the hope of heaven as John the Revelator prophesied: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3)