One Of A Kind Love Affair

Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying,"I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness."

When was the last time crystal meth promised to love you and then actually did? I mean really love you. I mean took care of you and kept you in a safe place where no harm would come to you. Did meth fulfill the promise it spoke to you? I don't think so.

When was the last time weed promised to love you and then carried through on that promise? Oh, I know you think it did. You think that it made you feel better.....mellow.....trouble free. Truth is, it actually lied to you and the sent you into a false reality. It mellowed you out while it compounded the problems around you. Then it dropped you like a lead weight so that when you   saw what was happening around you.....you sought it out again so you could escape.

When was the last time crack, or heroin or Oxy's told you that they loved you?
Seems to me that if love is involved then it would not lead to destruction. I can write you a list as long as your arm of men who fell prey to the deceptive, destructive love provided by these three. Trouble is, these men can stand and testify to the evil and darkness these three brought to their lives.....these men are dead because of it.

Yet there is a love that burns hotter than the hottest sun....
A love more pure than anything found on this planet...
A love that is not deterred by anyone or anything.....
And we reject it.
That would be the love of God.

I wondered about the opening words to Jeremiah 31:3-----"the Lord appeared to him from afar."
Why "afar"?
Why this separation between God and this individual?
Sin....
Not that sin disturbed God or kept him at distance...but that sin in the individual kept that person from moving toward God.
In Luke 5 we read about Jesus and Peter when Jesus borrowed Pete's boat so he could teach. After finishing, Jesus commanded Pete and his crew to launch out to the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Pete wasn't too hyped up on this move, but he did it anyway. Ba-zong-ta! Fish x 10! Nets are so full that the boats are starting to sink. When things are finally brought under control, Pete falls to his knees and declares, "Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!" Jesus never said a thing. Jesus never mentioned Pete's sin. Pete was just made painfully aware of what a sin-stinker he was just by being in the presence of  Jesus.

Maybe that is why the Jeremiah passage says that "Jesus has drawn us with loving kindness. We keep running...He keeps chasing....
We keep denying and rejecting....
He keeps loving and drawing us to Himself.

No matter what your thoughts say...
No matter what you believe deep down inside yourself....
The truth of God is the truth.
God has loved you....now will love you, or might love you, or will think about loving you....
God has (past tense...always has) loved you!!!!
Not with the syrupy, sloppy, love that we usually think about...
But a pure, divine love that filled the heart of Jesus and pointed him to a cross where He died for you and for me so that we might have a life with Him.
I don't care how you slice that little bit of info.....
That is some kind of bodacious love!
Think on His love today.....

God on you...
mb