LOVE DARE DAY 22

~Day 22~ Love is faithful~

I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord. —Hosea 2: 20

Our love for each other is supposed to be how people distinguish us as Christ’s disciples (John 13: 35).

 Love is an exercise we are to “abound” in more and more (1 Thessalonians 3: 12), always getting better at it, becoming increasingly defined by it.

So if love is what we were created to share, what do you do when your love is rejected ? How do you handle it when the one to whom you’ve pledged your life stops accepting the love you’re called to give?

The account of the prophet Hosea is one of the most remarkable in the Bible. Against all logic and propriety, God instructed him to marry a prostitute. He wanted Hosea’s marriage to show what heaven’s unconditional love looks like toward us. Hosea’s union with Gomer produced three children but, as expected, this woman who had long made her living in immorality was not content to stay faithful to one man. So Hosea was left to deal with a broken heart and the shame of abandonment. He had loved her, but she had spurned his love. They had grown close, but now she had been disloyal and adulterous, rejecting him for the lust of total strangers.

Time passed, and God spoke to Hosea again, telling him to go and reaffirm his love for this woman who had been repeatedly unfaithful. By now, however, she had reached a new low and was being sold as a dirty, unwanted slave. But Hosea paid the price for her redemption and brought her home. Yes, she had treated his love with contempt. She had dealt treacherously with his heart. Yet he welcomed her back into his life, expressing an unconditional love toward her. This is a true story, but God used it to paint a lasting picture of His love for us.

~TODAY’S DARE~

LOVE IS A CHOICE, NOT A FEELING. IT IS AN INITIATED ACTION, NOT A KNEE-JERK REACTION. CHOOSE TODAY TO BE COMMITTED TO LOVE EVEN IF YOUR SPOUSE HAS LOST MOST OF THEIR INTEREST IN RECEIVING IT. SAY TO THEM TODAY IN WORDS SIMILAR TO THESE, “I LOVE YOU. PERIOD. I CHOOSE TO LOVE YOU EVEN IF YOU DON’T LOVE ME IN RETURN.”

Why is this kind of love impossible without the love of Christ beating in your heart?

How does His presence within you enable you to love, even when it’s primarily one-sided?