By: Steve Wilmot
Edgerton, Ohio
If your parents took you to Sunday school and church as a youngster, surely you sang this song: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.”
I’ll bet you recognize the best-known verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16).
This song and this verse capture the essence of Christianity. It’s not a list of do’s and dont’s and rules and regulations you must diligently perform to get on God’s good side. That’s religion. It’s understanding how much he loves you and being drawn into a relationship with the Lover of your soul.
Maybe because we’ve heard he loves us so often we’ve become immune to the fullness of his passion for us. “Jesus loves me, huh? Yeah, I’ve heard that.” And we go on with our lives, giving little thought to the life-changing news it really is.
In the Old Testament book of Hosea, the depth and unconditional nature of God’s love for us is depicted in an analogy everyone can understand. The opening scene has a surprising order from God to the prophet.
The first time God spoke to Hosea he said: “Find a whore and marry her. Make this whore the mother of your children.
And here’s why: This whole country has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God.” Hosea did it. He picked Gomer daughter of Diblaim (Hosea 1.2-3).
Gomer’s past was far from admirable. The marriage of an adulterous woman and a godly prophet was hardly an anticipated match. Her ways made her unworthy of the committed love of any man.
Yet God told Hosea to marry her because he wanted to paint a picture for Israel of his undying love for them they all could easily understand.
Hosea and Gomer had three children together, but even while they were married Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea. The day came when she left Hosea, saying “I’m off to see my lovers! They’ll wine and dine me, dress and caress me, perfume and adorn me!” (Hosea 2.5).
Nobody would blame Hosea if he turned his back on her knowing he’d given his all to make their marriage work. No one would blame him if he divorced her.
If we’re honest, nobody would blame God if he washed his hands of us either. We’ve proven unfaithful to him time and again when all he’s done is love us unconditionally and give us the best life imaginable.
Read carefully what God tells Hosea, Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife. Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”
And Hosea’s response? I did it. I paid good money to get her back. It cost me the price of a slave” (Hosea 3.1-2).
You and I, we, are Gomer, consistently running after other lovers instead of embracing the God who loves us in a way no one else can.
God is Hosea, constantly loving us — even when we cheat on him. Willingly paying the highest price he could imagine — the life of his Son — to get us back. “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5.8).
If the picture isn’t clear enough yet, maybe John Eldredge’s writing will: “Have you ever had to literally turn a lover over to a mortal enemy to allow her to find out for herself what his intentions toward her really were?
“Have you ever had to lie in bed knowing she was believing his lies and was having sex with him every night?
“Have you ever sat helplessly by in a parking lot, while your enemy and his friends took turns raping your lover even as you sat nearby, unable to win her heart enough so she would trust you to rescue her?
“Have you ever called this one you had loved for so long, even the day after her rape, and asked her if she was ready to come back to you only to have her say her heart was still captured by your enemy?
“Have you ever watched your lover’s beauty slowly diminish and fade in a haze of alcohol, drugs, occult practices, and infant sacrifice until she is no longer recognizable in body or soul?
“Have you ever loved one so much that you even send your only son to talk with her about your love for her, knowing that he will be killed by her? (And in spite of knowing all of this, he was willing to do it because he loved her, too, and believed you were meant for each other.)
“All this and more God has endured because of his refusal to stop loving us.” O how he loves you and me! How will you respond to this kind of love?
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.
