Redemptive Love!
And we love to come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. I John 4:16
God commands us to love others. However, He does not mean I should love them naturally, but redemptively. Marriage is not a contract but rather it’s a covenant. The covenant between not only between the couple but also the couple with God. The basic difference between traditional marriage and covenant marriage is how the parties enter into the marital contract. In a traditional or “contract” marriage, a couple need only purchase a marriage license, obtain two witnesses and have a state-licensed agent to perform at the ceremony. In a covenant marriage God has established it with Him through covenant because it is only through loving him can we truly love one another. It’s based on redemptive love God’s love.
Redemptive love is God’s way. God showed this convincingly in the life of Hosea, the prophet. His wife left him and went to live with another man, and Hosea had the humiliating experience of having to buy her back from her adultery. (Hosea 3:1-3). Think about buying back what is already yours! Yet, that is what God did for us at Calvary. Father God told Hosea to do this because this is exactly what Israel did to Him. They left Him, and went after false gods. We fail to understand that God is a jealous God and He wants all our love, all of dedication, all of us. Not just on Sundays but every day of our life.
It is my great pleasure to say that I have been married to my best friend for 25 years. We have not always seen eye to eye and yes, we’ve had our ups and downs but in all we understand the relationship is a covenant not just between ourselves but with our Lord Jesus Christ. Redemptive love knows no shame; it is concerned with the loved one, not with its own feelings. Jesus did not cry out in self-pity, “Poor Me” when He was hanging on the cross. Hosea did not flinch or complain when he bought back his wife. He took her shame and disgrace as his own and for her sake he paid her debt willingly and brought her home safely once again. Redemptive love binds and makes permanent. Gomer, Hosea’s wife, never left him again. How could she, after love like that? I am at times weak and run from God but soon God brings me back home once again. Redemptive love is the most powerful binding force in the world.
We should realize that we cannot love others naturally. We must run to Christ and hove Him fill us with His love so we can love others as He has commanded us. This is redemptive love. Marriages and relationships fail because we rely on human love. Human love will never be sufficient. It is never enough. It’s only through God’s love that we can truly reach and be there for one another.