“People who never before inquired about me are now asking about me. I am being found by people who were not looking for me. To them I have said, ‘I am here.’  I opened my arms to my own people all day long, but they have rebelled.”  (Isaiah 65:1-2)

These words from the prophet Isaiah prophetically point to how the gospel would eventually go to the Gentiles, but I think it also captures something about the nature of God. I don’t know how else to say this, but I think God is biased toward outsiders, especially when insiders fail to embrace what is rightfully theirs. I believe it might be His way of including everyone.

John’s gospel puts it this way “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11-12).

There it is again, proof that God is for outsiders; God brings the outsiders in. And I think it’s bigger than the historical span of God revealing Himself through the law and the prophets, and later through Christ and the gospel. I believe it’s something endemic to the way God works.

If any group of people gets smug and presumptuous about being on the inside with God, God will silently slip out and be found by those outside – people who are not even looking for Him.

Or another way to put it… whenever God’s people turn Pharisaical, He will go out and bring the sinners in.

I believe its happening today. God won’t put up with a church that has become exclusive. The gospel is always inclusive. He will always be found by those who aren’t looking for Him. He will say “I am here” to those on the outside while those on the inside think they have Him all to themselves.

When Christians start behaving like they are members of a country club, God goes public.

So if you want to go where God is: Look outside. Think outside. Be outside.