HARLOTRY

I would guess everyone reading this is guilty at one point or another of harlotry toward God. (How's that for an opening blog sentence?) We are guilty of allowing our hearts to run after other lovers. Everyone has gotten his kicks from ambition - money - power - sex -- you know what it is -- you name it.

Yet God has not given up on you. He has not quit His wife of harlotry. He has not divorced her. In fact - despite the unfaithfulness, God promises to take you alone into the wilderness so He can show His love to you - harlot though you have been.

He says, 'Even though you’ve been so unfaithful, we’ll start over the way it was at the engagement - when you thought I was worth trusting - when you’d follow me anywhere - we’ll start over.'

The first half of 2011 can be wiped away. There can be paradise between you and God again. “I’ve always kept My Word,” God says. “I’ve always been faithful ... now you can be too.” He wants you back - He wants you all the way back.

It’s not: ‘OK, you can come live in the house, but because of what you’ve done and your terrible mistakes, that’s about as far as you’re going to be allowed to get - keep your distance - stay over there away from me. You take your meals over there; I’ll take mine over here.‘

No. God will not hold you at a distance. He wants you all the way back - the conversation - the affection - the intimacy - the togetherness - the most profound union imaginable will be granted to you ... if you will just come home.

That’s the meaning of the Gospel. God comes to welcome back His wife of harlotry. Even though His creation - the people He has made with His own hands have strayed so far and chased after other lovers, He sends His one and only Son, Jesus, to buy her back again at very great cost to Himself. And in spite of it all, He lovingly and graciously promises her great hope and safety and a future -- and He says, “We can start over.” We can start over.

God is relentlessly pursuing a wife of prostitution - that’s us - and the good news is that He knows we’ve sold ourselves for a song and a dance and yet He stands here today and draws you back. It is the most encouraging thing you will hear all year long.

God has a completely irrational love for you. Don’t try to make sense of it. Just accept it. He loves you and He keeps making a way for us to come back to Him over and over and over again, even though we have cheated on Him. That’s the story of Jesus.

And be blessed.