You know something… God loves you!
God loves me!
The first reading from Hosea declares God’s love for us today. Yes my friend’s son in Michigan is still going through a messy divorce. Yes my sister has cancer. Yes the world faces COVID-19. Still amidst it all God loves us.
We all search for happiness. Still things Hosea says , We shall say no more, “Our god”, to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
The words “Our god” are small case. It refers to the idols we have in our lives and the work we do to create those idols. Hosea gives us hope that God says,“I will heal their defection, says the Lord, I will love them freely.”
I have a friend who is obsessed with money. He works and saves and constantly watches the stock market. He collects memorabilia. He has an old car that he will work on some day, but that day never happens. His health is bad and the energy he once had as a young man is not there. I am not trying to be critical because he serves and loves the Lord and his heart is good. I have been on many retreat teams with him. Part of the problem is that he worked since he was 12 years old. He doesn’t know how to do anything else. One of the things I learned in moving that the less I had the freer I became.
Here again God is loving us even though we do not always deserve it. Jesus, however, is asking us to do two things, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart”….and …..“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In effect, He is saying to get rid of the idols in our lives. Before I was married, I fell in love with a few young ladies. One, in particular, whose name was, Sandy, did not want children and I did. She worked for family services and her clients were her children. Each of us wanted different things. That was the point. We each wanted different things.
It might be a bad example, but the point that the scriptures are making is what God wants. God wants us to love Him just as He loves us. He also wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
When we love God freely as He loves us we are not far from the Kingdom of God. The world is a better place when we love as God loves.
Health concerns are smaller. Relationship’s are better. The Kingdom of God is all around you. Love God and freely love everyone, even those that are hard to love. Enjoy the freedom of loving freely as God loves.
God love you always
Bob Burford
