Part 2: God is Not User-Friendly
There are 900 uses of the word holy in Scripture. It is the adjective most often ascribed to God. But what does it mean? Its root is “to separate.” It means God is not like us. We have a very casual attitude toward the name and character of God (“the man upstairs”). But people who have actually met Him have had a very different opinion. How can we approach Him? Isaiah’s story shows us.
If we are the Temple where redemption happens, what is our plan to draw people to Him? The answer is to relearn an ancient, almost forgotten practice: Hospitality. In a time when loneliness is an epidemic, when few people know their neighbors, something as simple as a meal together can be the starting place for something beautiful to happen.
When our bond with God was severed by our sin, He didn’t give up on us. He made a second Eden, a place for us to meet with Him and be redeemed. That place was the Temple, and the events that happened there teach us about a God who is mighty to save, the cost of our sin, and His plans for us.
