Love Again

Over the winter a garden is brown, dusty and full of let overs from the previous season but no gardener says, I am done.  Just look at how brown everything looks.  No, they prepare for spring because they know that when they provide all the attention their garden needs it will once again to be fruitful.  They are not guaranteed that this will happen but they work hard expecting positive results.

God tells Hosea to once again pursue Gormer.  God instructed Hosea to love her just like any other woman who is loved by her husband.  Now that is the full display of forgiveness.  No conditions or restrictions to His love...just simply love her to the fullest.

Hos 3:1-5 1Then the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3 Then I said to her, "You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you." 4 For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days. NAS

Do you need to forgive and love like this?  This is the love God has for you, an unconditional love.  We are called to do the same to those around us.

Go again and love them as Christ has loved you.

Calling you "Sweetheart" I Am In Love with You!

Remember those dating years?  I know for some of us it was a long time ago.  However, you can still remember how it was never a problem stopping at your girl friends home.  You would drive an hour just to spend ten minutes.  You wanted her to know that you cared.  Ladies, you would gladly sit through an afternoon for baseball or football just to be next to your boyfriend.  You wanted them to know that you hoped they would be in your life forever.

God has a call on Israel's life.  He did all He did to pursue them and seek to win their hearts again.  They had walked away but He was gently and carefully seeking to win their hearts again.  Notice how He sought them.

Hosea 2:14-23  "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 16 "In that day," declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.' 17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battleI will abolish from the land,so that all may lie down in safety. 19 I will betroth you to me forever;I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,in love and compassion. 20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,and you will acknowledge the Lord.  21 "In that day I will respond,"declares the Lord—"I will respond to the skies,and they will respond to the earth; 22 and the earth will respond to the grain,the new wine and oil,and they will respond to Jezreel. 23 I will plant her for myself in the land;I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people';and they will say, 'You are my God.'" NIV

Remembering how your spouse sought you can refresh those wonderful memories and renew the love you have for one another.
 
Remembering how the Lord had sought and bought you can also renew the love you have for Him.
 
Think about the time you were drawn to Christ.  Thank HIM and tell Him that you Love Him because He loves you.