Text: Romans 5.8-11
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid… But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3.8-9
In a culture of expansive information and self-help, we can lose site of the purpose for the discipleship environment we call The Chair. Perhaps we think we can figure out life without meeting with God. It’s easy to avoid The Chair when we don’t recognize its importance or have a long list of “to do’s” demanding our attention. If that’s not enough, even our Christian culture can twist our view of this space by piling on guilt and shame for avoiding it.
But just like Adam and Eve, God creates us for relationship with him and God desires to meet with us. Unfortunately, instead of trusting God at his word, Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and became the catalyst for sin resulting in a universal curse (Genesis 3.1-6). We’re born into a world under the curse of sin, “but now in Christ Jesus [we] who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2.13). Christ’s blood makes it possible for our relationship with God to be made right and for us to meet with him every day.
Jesus gives us right standing before God so we can meet with God in confidence, not with our “tail between our legs.” This also makes it possible for The Chair to become a place of delight, not a place of duty. Jesus turns our attitude of “I have to” into “I get to” because we meet with him compelled by love, not out of obligation.
As we explore the purpose and challenge of The Chair this week, commit to sticking with Beyond the Weekend for the next four days and schedule a specific time when you will meet with God in The Chair.
