Every little girl loves the story about Cinderella. A young, beautiful girl is rescued by a dashing prince. He doesn’t let anything stop his pursuit of rescuing her from her terrible state and whisking her away to live happily ever after in his kingdom.
All little girls want to be Cinderella. I believe, like those little girls, there’s something in us today, something we still long for.
We all want to be pursued and loved!
You see, we were created for connection and intimacy. It’s something that God has put in all of us.
The greatest love story ever told is a true life love story, not a fairy tale and is found in the Bible.
It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves His throne to rescue the ones He loves.
It’s one big love story, starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation, about how God relentlessly loves His children & comes to rescue them!
The story begins like all good stories start: Once upon a time, in Genesis, in the garden of Eden where God created Adam and Eve.
There was this perfect union between God and man as they walked in the garden together in the cool of the evening. However, in disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit, sin entered this perfect world and the perfect relationship between God and man for the first time.
In Gen 3:7 it says
7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Sin separates us from God’s presence. Sin causes shame and makes us hide from God.
God’s relentless love for Adam and Eve causes Him to ask “Where are you?”
He knows something has come in between them so He pursues them to bring his loved ones back to Him.
From the start He has relentlessly pursued you and loved you.
- RELENTLESS FROM THE START
You see, we are the ones that hide from God rather than coming to Him. We feel too ashamed to enter His presence and unworthy of His love.
God didn’t leave Adam and Eve naked and ashamed. He didn’t abandon them.
In His mercy and kindness, he made a plan, by making garments of animal skins to cover them. It was a sacrifice made, which is a picture of Christ being the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. Our ‘fig leaves’ can never cover our shame.
No amount of our works or religious acts can cover our shame and guilt.
Only Jesus!
God is relentless from the start in His pursuit of us and He makes a plan for us to come near!
If we carry on with this great love story told throughout the Bible, we see how God persistently pursues His people Israel, to bring them back to Him throughout the Old Testament despite their rebellion.
One of the most beautiful pictures of God’s relentless love for us in the Old Testament is in the book of Hosea.
Hosea was a prophet called by God to deliver a message to HIS people, Israel. God commanded Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute, a woman who was unfaithful to him as a sign to His people Israel that, like an adulterous wife, they were guilty of being unfaithful to God.
Hosea 1:2
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”
This is a beautiful picture of God choosing Israel despite knowing they would turn away from Him.
His love is not based on our worthiness but on His faithfulness!
God has a RELENTLESS FAITHFUL LOVE
His Love Is not based on how great we are or our achievements but on His character. He is love.
His love for us does not change. He’s chosen us despite our repeated failures and inabilities. God chooses to love us!
God has a RELENTLESS PURSUING LOVE
Gomer repeatedly left Hosea and lived a life of immorality, yet Hosea continued to pursue her.
God said to Hosea:
Hosea 3:1-3
“Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods.
Like Gomer, Israel kept turning to Idols, yet God continued to call her back. What idols are we turning to? Idols can be anything that takes the place of God in our lives.
We may relentlessly pursue other idols but no matter how far you run God’s relentless love will outrun you! He comes after us, like He did with Adam & Eve in Garden of Eden.
God has a RELENTLESS REDEEMING LOVE
God commands Hosea to buy back Gomer after she’s fallen into slavery. This is such a powerful picture of God redeeming us at the cost of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross!
Jesus paid the price to bring us back to the Father like Hosea paid the price for Gomer.
God sees you as so valuable that He would give His Son for you!
God never gives up on His people and He will never give up on you even when you turn away from Him.
You’re never too far gone, never too broken, and never too much of a mess for His love to reach you!
God has a RELENTLESS RESTORING LOVE
God’s ultimate goal is repentance and restoration. Just as Hosea welcomed Gomer back, God longs to restore us into a relationship with Him.
But there needs to be a turning back to Him in repentance. Turn away from sin and turn towards God.
Often we can view sin as a failure of performance rather than a failure of intimacy. Rather than failing to meet God’s standard we fail to see that we’re breaking His heart.
He is jealous for your love!
If we carry on with this great love story told through the Bible, God’s not only RELENTLESS FROM THE START in Genesis and through the Old Testament but God continues to relentlessly pursue us in the MIDDLE OF THE STORY, in the middle of our mess, by sending His son Jesus.
- HE WILL NOT RELENT
The greatest demonstration of God’s relentless love for us is in His willingness to sacrifice His Son for us.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He loves you that much that, while stuck in your sin, your dirt, depravity and brokenness He sent His son -to die for you!
He comes to us in THE MESSY MIDDLE!
He will NOT RELENT even in our mess. In the messiness of your divorce or your abuse or the brokenness of your relationships, He will not relent.
When Jesus died on that cross, the curtain, separating the Holy of Holies (God’s presence) from the priest, was torn in two from top to bottom, showing that God reached down from heaven to earth, to our mess. God initiates this love relationship and tears the divide between man and God.
1 John 4:10
“this is love: Not that we loved God but that He loved us (First!)”
God’s relentless love has been FROM THE START, it comes to us in the MESSY MIDDLE and will be there for us till the VERY END.
Jesus our bridegroom has promised that He’s coming back for us, His bride, to live together into eternity.
At the end of this big love story, John writes about a vision he sees in Revelation 2:2-3:
“And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people.”
This is the true “happily ever after!” We’ll finally see the one we love face to face & be with Him forever where there’ll be no more pain, tears, sickness or death.
This is not a fairy tale! Our future is secure because He’s coming back for us and we hold onto that promise.
God’s faithful, pursuing, redeeming and restoring love is RELENTLESS.
He is relentless FROM THE START and He will not relent in THE MESSY MIDDLE and TILL THE VERY END.
He’s loved you from the start, He loves you in the messy middle and He will love you right to the very end.
Allow His love into every part of your story!