As for Elton and Louise: they have been planning this for months. They have gone to wedding preparation classes. They have had to go to court and plead their case, because they didn’t know about having to give three months notice (that is partly my fault). They have thought about dresses, the cake, the flowers, the brides-maids, the grooms-men, the food (I can’t wait), and the photographer. But now the day is here, the doors are locked, and there is no turning back.
Not that Elton wants to run. Did you see the look on his face when Louise arrived? Have you seen the smiles the two of them have been sharing? I want you to observe Elton today. Watch him as he leaves this room with Louise on his arm—looking like that the cat that got the cream. See him as he glances at her during the day. Listen as he talks about her. For he is providing us with an object lesson that of the sort of love that God invites each of us to experience in him.
You see the prophet Isaiah wrote to God’s people saying:
. . . as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5)
So Elton gives us a picture of the sort of love God wants us to experience in him, but Elton’s love for Louise still remains a pale imitation of God’s love for his people.
I don’t know how Elton and Louise got together. I am sure that they told me but I have forgotten. But it probably went something like this: Elton sees Louise and thinks ‘Umm, she’s not so bad looking.’ He get’s to know her and finds that her personality matches her good looks. He spends time with her and he enjoys her friendship. So he says, ‘this girl is worth spending the rest of my life with.’ Elton’s love for Louise may be the real deal but God’s love goes way beyond it. Let me explain!
God looks at us and sees that we are in rebellion against his rule; he looks at our hearts and sees that we are self-centred and self-obsessed; he looks at our lives and sees all sorts of moral failings. Spiritually speaking it is as if we have the most horrendous breath, a huge bulbous nose, greasy skin and the personality of Gengus-Khan. Yet God declares ‘I love him’ ‘I love her’. Elton loves Louise because she is lovely but God offers to love us despite our many blemishes.
He loves us so much that he sends his one and only Son into our world, and humanity puts that Son on a cross and kills him; he loves people so much that he planned for Jesus to go to that cross so that he could take the punishment our guilt deserves; and, he loves us so much that when any person turns back to him and cries, ‘have mercy on me, a sinner’, there is a party in heaven. It is all summed up in the most famous verse in the Bible: ‘For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’
Finally, did you see that Elton and Louise put a verse Bible verse on their wedding invitations? (That is the sort of corny thing born again Christians do). The verse reads, ‘we love because he first loved us.’ God’s love inspires them. God’s love is the sort of love that will keep their marriage alive even if looks fade and they learn what it means to love some in sickness as well as health, for poorer as well as richer, and for worse as well as for better.
So watch Elton today. Watch him as he leaves this room like the cat that got the cream and remember that, as a groom dotting over his bride, he is giving us a picture of the love God wants us to experience in him. But remember that God’s love surpasses that of Elton for Louise. Elton loves Louise because she is lovely; God loves us because he is love.
The chapter of the Bible contains a wedding invitation. ‘The Spirit and the Bride say come. And let him who hears say come; and let anyone who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.’ I hope that you will give that invitation serious consideration and so not miss out on the party!
5 comments:
"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves"
God certainly told Moses how to have a party, but not much fun for the little ones, or the women who had known a man, nor I suspect was it going to be much fun for the virgins, (women children indeed!)
Why do Christians wish to ignore these disgusting wishes of their God?
"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves"
God certainly told Moses how to have a party, but not much fun for the little ones, or the women who had known a man, nor I suspect was it going to be much fun for the virgins, (women children indeed!)
Why do Christians wish to ignore these disgusting wishes of their God?
Paul, it seems to me that you have a terrible chip on your shoulder against the God of the Christians. I am not sure why that is. My experience is that people who have such an attitude have often experienced pain at the hands of those who claim to be Christians; often from their fathers. As regards to the events surrounding violence in the Old Testament, I would recommend reading Lee Strobels book,'The Case for Faith' - he has an interesting chapter on this in which he interviews J. P. Moreland.
Thanks for your comments, Paul.
Sorry Paul, perhaps the above comments are unfair. For all I know you may have no negative experiences of Christians or no axe to bare. If my above comment is patronising then I an truily sorry. I still recomment the Lee Strobel book and a similar one entitled, 'Ten Questions Christians don't want you to ask them.' Hope I have caused no offense to you. Paul
The books you recommend simply regurgitate the same old platitudes, its as if they are shuffling worn out doctrines, like a faded pack of cards. If folks really want to know how Christians reason the shocking acts of their God, one need look no further than their pin up boy William Lane Craig as he explains why God killed so many men, women and children. Notice in the following quote from Craig, how God was actually doing the children a favour by killing them!
" So whom does God wrong in commanding the destruction of the Canaanites? Not the Canaanite adults, for they were corrupt and deserving of judgement. Not the children, for they inherit eternal life. So who is wronged? Ironically, I think the most difficult part of this whole debate is the apparent wrong done to the Israeli soldiers themselves. Can you imagine what it would be like to have to break into some house and kill a terrified woman and her children? The brutalizing effect on these Israeli soldiers is disturbing."
The mask has slipped!
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