Redeemed

I had a busy week/month. Wow. As it nears the end of March I am looking back to see what happened in my life this month. Well, I don't have all day so I'll cut to the chase. Love.

Love happened to me. True love. Holy love. Redemptive love. Love for others. Love for God. Love for me. Love, love, love.... What a lovely thing.

I can honestly and truly say I am more content today than I have ever been. True contentment is not getting what you want but understanding how much you already have. Okay-I stole that from a Joshua Harris video but it's true. Another quote: Believe that God is not withholding any good thing from you that you should have. Think about that for a moment. I have EVERYTHING I need right now. By God's hand and plan. Wow.

The love part comes in when I look at the things I've seen happen this month. IHOP was great and I learned a lot about growing the roots of God's love deep into my heart. I love it when I tell people this cuz my voice makes this sound like a grunt to emphasize the word "deep" and my fingers push down to demonstrate the roots pushing down into the soil. Funny, I didn't realize I was doing that until I just typed it and tried to do it at the same time. :) I've learned about love in guy stuff as always. God will love me far beyond this world and this time. Why would I want to seek anything less than His love? Love has shown up in preparations for youth ministry stuff too as I see God use me in the lives of students. But the clincher comes in a story of a man called by God to marry a prostitute...

Hosea and Gomer. I absolutely love this story because it is such a powerful picture of God's love. So Hosea is a prophet and God tells him to marry a prostitute as an illustration of God's love for Israel, the ever wavering nation He has chosen for Himself. But what I am struck by is the imagery of the marriage relationship we enter into as believers of Jesus Christ. When we trust in Him as Savior and begin that relationship we are entering into a covenant relationship that is not meant to be taken so lightly! I am so flippant with my relationship to God. I sin and I pray for forgiveness and move along. Almost no retribution or remorse. He's a forgiving God right? But I don't look at the heartbreak and pain it truly does cause. In the story of Hosea we see him running after Gomer, buying her back with everything he has, loving her unconditionally. Don't you just want to say "Stop! Let her go, she's never gonna be faithful. She's not worth it." We want to say that because we see her problem and she's not willing to change. She's not even understanding why Hosea would keep coming after her. She doesn't deserve a man like him. What does she deserve? We think she deserves the lifestyle she's chosen for herself. Admit it, we often see people and their "issues" and say they made their own grave now they must lie in it. It's cold and heartless but we think it. Or I do anyway.

But remember this story is an illustration of God and Israel (read: believers/followers of God). Instead of rejecting Gomer and leaving her Hosea continues to buy her back and love her. In the same way, God chooses not to reject us but redeem us. And He does so with the blood of Jesus, the ultimate price. God wants to be in relationship with us so much He paid the price in His Son. Yet, I am constantly whoring myself out to other things. And He brings me back and loves me again... Oh God, why do you love me like this?

The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
my love will know no bounds,
for my anger will be gone forever.
I will be to Israel
like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
it will send roots deep into the soil
like the cedars in Lebanon.
Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
My people will again live under my shade.
They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.
They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

“O Israel, stay away from idols!
I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
all your fruit comes from me.”

-Hosea 14:4-8 (NLT)