Part 3 - The Greatest True Love Story

The Third Key to Building Home: Knowing You Are Loved Unconditionally

I knew this was the real deal. There he was, handsome, 6’1’’, quiet, and thoughtful. His words carried weight and ran deep like a bottomless well. My face hurt from smiling so much. Was this real life? Could someone love me like this?

Love stories are ingrained in the very depths of who we are. From the beginning, God designed us to give and receive love. When it comes to building a home, love, sacrifice, and commitment are foundational.

My own love story started when I was the prodigal daughter.  My husband and I met in our freshman year of college when we sang together in a worship band.  I was far from the Lord, and his faith in God was solid. Joe saw me struggle. He prayed for me and waited to see if I would have a change of heart. In October 2004, I rededicated my life to the Lord. I remember feeling a strong pull to tell Joe that his faith in God had inspired me. Joe took this as a sign to start pursuing me.

The next few weeks were a complete joy as we got to know each other. At the end of the two weeks, He sat down, took my hand in his, and said, “Kayleen, I think you and I are going to get married someday.”

My heart warmed to his love, but the brokenness I had just come from brought guards around my heart. I told him, “I agree with you, but you have no idea what I have done. How about you get to know me first before wanting to commit a lifetime to me — this mess.”

That conversation still makes me smile, because it mirrors the way God pursues us. He knows every broken part of our story, yet he still says, “I choose you.”

Building our spiritual home is a lot like creating a physical one. In previous blog posts, we established that our spiritual home begins with building a relationship with God. Though we can know about someone, it is entirely different when we experience their love.

God’s love is demonstrated through the shocking life of Hosea and Gomer. Hosea was an Old Testament prophet whom God called to marry Gomer, a prostitute. They made a home and had three children together. Despite all that Hosea had done for her, Gomer continued in her life of prostitution and looked to other lovers to provide for her needs.

In Hosea 2, God narrates her story. Gomer said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ (Hosea 2:5b ESV) Then God says, “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block her path with a wall to make her lose her way. When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch them. She will search for thembut not find them. Then she will think, ‘I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’’ (Hosea 2:6-7 NLT).

God then tells Hosea, “Start all over: Love your wife again… Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.” (Hosea 3:1 MSG).

The story ends where Hosea did what the Lord had called him to do. He chose to love and forgive Gomer, despite the pain of her desertion and the disgrace she had brought.  He redeemed her. He paid a high price. She was then brought home, redeemed, restored, and loved by her family despite her poor choices.

What a crazy story! This true story illustrates a harsh reality. We are Gomer. The Israelites were Gomer. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6 ESV). “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV). Just like Hosea paid for Gomer to be released from slavery, Jesus paid our debt by dying on the cross for our sins. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV). By Jesus' wounds we are healed! This is the greatest love story ever! God loves us unconditionally because Jesus paid the price for our sin. He chooses us and loves us despite our mess.

Have you ever been in a situation in your life where you felt abandoned, rejected, wounded, or unloved? On the topic of pain in our lives, C.S. Lewis says, “The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of man, and his compulsion is my liberation.”1 His painful guidance leads us to freedom. Just as God said to Gomer, “I will obstruct her way with thorns, and I will build a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her paths. (Hosea 2:6 ESV). Thorns are very painful. Pain and crisis serve as means of protection and the very things that awaken us to our condition and remind us that we need a savior.  There is such hope in the greatest love story. God will not only guide our way when we seek him, but he will heal our broken hearts and bind our wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

If we fast forward 14 years in my life, I was married and had two children, but I was wounded with a broken heart after I had a miscarriage. The loss was not my fault, but it became a defining moment. God used grief to bring deeper healing and freedom in my life. We may feel alone and abandoned, as if no one is home in our hearts. God is not far. If we ask Him to come and show our life from his perspective, He will show affirmation by showing us how much he loves us, watches over us, and has defended us.

As an exercise in hope: take the list of your brokenness from the first blog post and make a new list of how you have seen provision, mercy, and grace in your life. Every good gift has come from above. (James 1:17) Marvel and bring thankfulness to the Lord for all he has provided and protected you from. He created you just as He intended. He loves you just the way you are right now, but he loves you enough not to keep you the way that he found you.2 He has never left you or abandoned you — even though sometimes it has felt that way.

Knowing God loves us is not the end of the journey, but just the beginning. Next week, we will learn how God helps us clear the land that he wants to build with you.

References:

1.C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. Geoffrey Bles, 1955.

2.Lucado, Max. Just Like Jesus. Thomas Nelson, 2012.