Love through Grace and Forgiveness

In the bible there is this story of a man.  This man's name was Hosea.  He was a prophet whose name mean Jehovah is Salvation.  He was a man that not only heard from God but followed the plan He had for him.

The first words God spoke to Hosea was to marry a promiscuous woman.  Or some translations would say a woman from a land that has committed great harlotry. God also told him to make children with this woman.  Some believe that this woman was formerly a prostitute.  Weather she was or wasn't, she was a woman that had come from a land of deep sexual immorality.  Her view of this sacred act had been completely manipulated by her culture (much like the society we live in today).  This woman was Gomer.

Fast forward in the Bible to the New Testament.  There are a few verses that stick out to me. The first is Ephesians 5, Paul tells ALL Husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church.  They other is a classic love poem in the first letter to Corinth.

"⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Back to Hosea.  Long story short, Gomer leaves him for an adulturess lifestyle, running off with her lovers.  The thing is, Gomer was always beloved in the eyes of Hosea.  Hosea was a man that believed in restoration.  He was believing for his WIFE to be restored to his side...

To me this is crazy.  What if you found out your wife or girlfriend was sleeping around? How would you respond, what kinds of things would you say to God? What would he say to you?... But what if we prayed the word of God for our lives for these situations.  What if we prayed, God let me love her like you love the church, the same church that has constant grace and mercy covering it.  The same church thats members spit in the face of God and abuse the gift of salvation He has given them.  What if we loved like that? What if we loved so deeply that we actually had true forgiveness, we actually had a love that held no record of wrongs? Man, what if this was attainable by us?

Hosea was a man inline with the heart of God; Hosea loved like this.  And He saw his wife, his marriage, and his life restored.  How often do we right of restoration because we are too hurt with what has gone on around us? I believe in a BIG God.  A God that I have seen restore and save and love me unconditionally.  When I look to learn how to love, I look to a Savior and a Maker that loves through grace and forgiveness and that loves in THIS truth.

God, let me love like you love.  Teach me to love beyond conditions, beyond circumstance, and beyond myself. May I love with and through grace and forgiveness. Amen.

***ladies treat your man right, fellas love her biblically and beyond your own means***