February. Valentine's Day. Love.
When it comes to the greatest love story, most of us probably don't think of the story of Hosea first. But it is. And it's meaning makes it so much more. Here we have a man, Hosea, who is bringing the Word of God to the people as a prophet. A respected, upstanding, God-fearing man. Yet, in obedience, Hosea answers God's call to take a prostitute as his wife.
Gomer. Possibly the most unattractive name for a woman. But she was indeed a beautiful bride & she gave Hosea three beautiful children. Then, slowly, Gomer slipped back into her old ways. Started living like she used to, started living her old lifestyle of sin, and eventually left Hosea & her children to pursue her lifestyle of sin as a prostitute. As time went on, Gomer lost her value & worth. So much so that instead of being paid for pleasure, she was being sold as a worthless slave. And in obedience, Hosea goes to the auction, lays everything down for Gomer, and buys her back. Pays the ultimate price not to buy a slave, but to accept her back as his priceless bride.
Sounds a lot like our life. We were meant to have this perfect relationship with God, but instead have turned our back on Him to pursue our own lifestyle of sin. A lifestyle concerned with our own selfishness, and a lifestyle focused on the things of this world & personal happiness. So much so that sin has taken away all our value & worth. We have become slaves to sin & are worthless.
Yet God pays the ultimate price! With His one & only son, God pays our penalty of sin by sending Jesus to die on the cross. To take our sins away & cancel them in Jesus' death so that we no longer live as slaves to sin, but live with Him as His beautiful & priceless bride. We are worth it! God lays it all down for YOU.
And that's the greatest love story ever told. The story of Jesus paying the price with His own life so that we can be free from sin & live in eternal life with Him. To be forgiven & redeemed is LOVE.
JV
awesome!
ReplyDelete