Glad You're Here: Two Unlikely Friends Breaking Bread and Fences

by Walker Hayes

We walked in during the praise and worship portion of the service, a particular part of church I loathed and wouldn’t have minded missing one bit. It was just a white dude with an acoustic guitar in a golf hat. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was actually impressed with how unimpressive it was. Since moving to Nashville, it had really been a long time since I’d stepped in a church that didn’t feel like the Dove Awards. It was simple and honest. Speaking as someone who is helpless to the emotional tug of music, I’ve always thought church music had a way of taking advantage of people like me. The preacher begins to pray, a piano softly enters the background, the acoustic guitar begins to strum, the soundtrack crescendos simultaneously with the preacher’s volume, and by the end you’re walking down an aisle, wondering what in the world is happening to your heart. For someone like me, the Holy Spirit and music can be confused with one another. Regardless, that night, the music just wasn’t about the music, in a refreshing way.

We come to Jesus just as we are, or we don’t come to Him at all.

When Christians fling their lives open wide, it’s amazing how people can sense the love of God in the open arms of the Savior. They may not be able to articulate it, and they may not even understand fully what God is doing in those moments, but there’s a sense of God that engulfs the living room, family life, and dining table of every open-armed Christian. What if we viewed what mattered most about our homes not as the decor or the financial value of the house, but the welcome it extends to the world in need of the love of God, the conversations and unburdening that can happen around the dining room table? Who is sitting there, what is being shared, what discussions and interactions and ministry are taking place in those moments—isn’t that what matters most? As we’re standing in the kitchen doing dishes together after dinner or sitting in the living room lingering over another cup of coffee, Jesus is at work. If Christ is in every Christian, doesn’t it stand to reason that people will unwittingly encounter the life of Christ as we simply dine together?

When Jesus was asked by someone, “‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’” (John 6:28–29). People want to know what they have to do in order to be right with God. We want lists. We want the twelve-step programs. We want something, anything, that will give us a sense of accomplishment and achievement to show that we have somehow earned good standing with God. But Christianity is not about what we must do, it’s about what God has done.

Maybe you wonder, like I did, if your life is making any difference in the world around you—any positive impact on others’ lives. Maybe you’re struggling to find meaning in the midst of all the mundane, everyday stuff of your ordinary life. I can relate. If that’s you, please let this story encourage you. You may not see it now, but your life is making a difference to the world around you. And more importantly, God is rejoicing over you. I think a lot of people, even heartfelt believers in Christ, don’t truly feel loved or accepted by God. We can often picture God as a disinterested father, cross with us, mildly irritated, maybe even rolling His eyes in our direction. If we don’t see Him as agitated, we can think of Him as merely tolerating us, but certainly not rejoicing over us. How could He, with all the baggage we bring? Yet the Bible portrays God as singing over us with gladness (Zeph. 3:17). There’s no compulsion there. It is His joy. Scripture says that God will quiet us with His love, and He will exult over us with singing.

The posture of Jesus is one of open arms. Warmth. Empathy. Welcome. Joy. Jesus’ love is a love that sings over us with rejoicing. Dear believer, that’s God’s heart for you. You don’t have to be perfect to be used by God. You don’t have to walk on water or be able to turn it Napa Valley red—if you know and are known by the One who did; if you draw near to Him and simply open yourself up to receive and reflect His love, there’s no telling what God can do in and through you. He may even stop the hike you’re on to put you in the front of the pack in order to display His glory through your lack of strength. Regardless, He delights in you and wants you to feel and know His great love.