Meet People Where They Are
Updated: 1 day ago
One of the greatest demonstrations of God's love is that He meets people where they are. He doesn't begin with condemnation. He begins with compassion. He doesn't ignore the truth, but neither does He ignore the story that brought someone to where they are.
Before God transforms people, He understands them. And meets them where they are.
I know this personally.
As a little girl, my first experiences with men were marked by pain. It wasn't only what I lived through with my father; it was also the ways other men abused and took advantage of me—even those in positions of trust and authority.
Those experiences shaped how I viewed men. How I viewed love, protection, and even God.
So when people told me, "God is your Father," it wasn't comforting. It made me question everything. If God is revealed as Father and spoken of in masculine terms, how could He be any different from the men who had hurt me?
Many people would have judged me for struggling to trust God. Some would have called it rebellion, unbelief, or a lack of faith.
But God didn't.
He met me where I was.
He wasn't offended by my questions. He wasn't intimidated by my distrust. He wasn't impatient with my healing.
Instead, He loved me.
"A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out." — Isaiah 42:3.
This Scripture tells us that:
He doesn't give up on people who are barely hanging on.
He doesn't reject people because their faith is weak.
He doesn't shame people because they're struggling.
He doesn't discard people because they're wounded.
He patiently nurtures them back to strength.
Over the years, God patiently revealed Himself to me layer by layer.
He showed me that although Scripture reveals Him as Father, He is not like sinful humanity.
The failures, abuse, manipulation, and brokenness I experienced at the hands of some men, were never a reflection of His character.
God is holy, perfect, trustworthy, and incapable of evil.
"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind." — Numbers 23:19
We cannot project the sins of people onto the perfect character of God.
Every time God revealed His love, another lie I believed about Him was replaced with the truth.
The more I came to know Him, the less my past defined how I saw God. The more I knew Him, the more the fear, distrust, and pain I carried began to lose their grip.
He didn’t erase my past, but He redeemed it.
His love changed not only how I saw Him—it changed how I saw myself.
God’s love healed wounds I thought I might carry for the rest of my life.
The lies my experiences had taught me were slowly replaced by the truth of who God is.
That's why I wrote my first book.
Not because I had all the answers.
But because I experienced a love so relentless, so patient, and so unconditional that I couldn't keep it to myself.
"We love because He first loved us." — 1 John 4:19
We Too Need To Meet People Where They Are
Here's what my childhood experience taught me:
The way God loves and deals with me should be the way I love and deal with people.
Too often, we expect people to think like us, believe like us, heal as quickly as we have, or trust as easily as we do. But what God showed me is that love isn't about people meeting our expectations—Love is about meeting people where they are.
We want people to change before they've been shown love. We want them to trust before they've been understood.
But Jesus didn't do that.
He met people where they were.
He met the woman at the well in her shame. He met Thomas in his doubt. He met Peter after his rejection. He met Saul later known as Paul while he was persecuting Christians.
Jesus always started with people where they were—not where everyone thought they should be.
If we're going to represent Christ, we must do the same.
The deceived.
The skeptical.
The wounded.
The angry.
The addicted.
The abandoned.
The person carrying hurt.
The one who says, "I don't trust God."...
Instead of being offended by their pain, what if we became curious about it?
What happened that made them believe that? Who hurt them? What lie have they been carrying for years?
Love asks questions before it makes accusations. It seeks to understand. It desires to help.
Compassion listens before it lectures, criticizes, condemns, rejects, or give up.
Romans 14 teaches us that people are at different places in their life and faith and we should learn to meet people where they are rather than judge them for where they are not yet.
Some believers may have different convictions, understanding, or ways of doing things, but that does not mean we should criticize or look down on them. Instead, we are called to lead with love, patience, and understanding, remembering that each person is growing in their own relationship with God.
Sometimes meeting people where they are means putting aside our own preferences or freedoms so we don't cause them to stumble. Rather than trying to prove that we are right, we should focus on building people up, pursuing peace, and helping them grow closer to God.
The truth is, you cannot love people the way Jesus did without Jesus living in you.
Human love has limits.
Christ's love doesn't—because it's unconditional. And it's who He is.
God doesn't require you to be a certain way before he demonstrates his love. he's alway shown it.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The ultimate demonstration of love is Jesus’ sacrifice.
"By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." — John 13:35
People don't just need better arguments. They need believers who reflect the heart of God.
Meet people where they are.
Understand that every person has a story, wounds, questions, experiences, and misconceptions that shape how they see themselves, how they see others, and how they see God.
Let's start to accept people without judgment. And use the power of God's love within to help that person.
God did it for you.
Now let's do it for others.
Continue Reading
If you enjoyed “Meet People Where They Are”, you may also like:
Stop Accusing: Why Christians Are Called to Advocate, Not Condemn
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Unconditional Love is Real!
God doesn't require people to get themselves together before He loves them.
How God Reveals What's Really In Your Heart
God showing us our own fault-finding, gossip, complaining, impatience, arrogance, and other attitudes that we may not recognize in ourselves.
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