Love Comes from God, by Pastor Kevin Feder

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man

and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel,

though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”

Hosea 3:1

We know that Love comes from God. Love does not come from within us. Recently, I wanted to help my own children see this point so I told them the story of Hosea, a man whom God had asked to marry an adulterous woman and stay faithful to her.

My children questioned this quickly, with confusion even “why would God ask Hosea to do this?” The way the question rolls off the tongue reveals how foreign biblical love truly is to us since we tend to love those who love us in return. Jesus had something to say about this in Matthew 5:46. In his call to love our enemies he confronted the worldly notion of love by saying that even the worst of sinners is inclined to love those from whom they get something in return.

The tone of my child’s question made the obvious implication: “what does Hosea get out of it?” By God’s grace, he helped me provide a good answer to a good question. “He gets to learn how to love as God loves, and so be more godly.” He gets to learn that love comes from God and love leads us and others to God.

Of course, Jesus is the real Hosea and we the church are the real Gomer (Hosea’s wife). Jesus is married to an adulterous wife, one who is often caught sleeping around with idols. Yet, Jesus enters the world and God his father says, I want you to marry this people and stay married to this people. In fact, I want you to covenant with this people all the way to your death on the cross in order to love them, cleanse them and provide them with the gift of all gifts, the goal of love, fellowship with God.

God is love. Love comes from God. Love leads us to God. We wouldn’t dream up God’s version of love, not ever. Those of us who believe in Jesus would be offended by this love if we were not first saved by it. Now, we are marked by it. God’s love allows us to celebrate the birth of Christ and the death of Christ in one fell swoop. His body: given at his birth. His blood: given on the cross. For sinners. For his bride.

That we would learn to love as God loves,

Pastor Kevin

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