The Greatest Love Story Ever

Let me tell ya, I am a sucker for romanace. If its a romantic comedy, I'll enjoy watching it, no matter *how* predictable it is. Actually, it being predictable is part of the charm--because the story and the surprise is not about what the ending will be (how the stories end is QUITE predictable, as it should be since any other ending would not be as happy), but about the exact details and unique story of how you got to the place of bliss. Most of the movies end up with the main characters together--and if they don't, the only other acceptable ending in a predictable romantic comedy is for the heroine to experience a tragic death.

Some of my favorite romantic movies: Moulin Rouge, Life or Something Like It, Gone With The Wind, Casblanca, ... The list goes on and on.

But the Greatest Love Story Ever?

In any story I've ever read, or watched a movie of, the Bible tells one that surpasses all others--a love so great nothing can come between it. Do you have any idea just how much Jesus loves you?

"The lord said to me [Hosea], 'Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adultress. Love her as the Lord loves the Isrealites, though they turn to other gods" -Hosea 3:1

"The lord is full of compassion and mercy" -James 5:11

"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them."

A Letter to You

I just had something really important on my mind to tell all of you.

There's someone out there who loves you more than you can imagine. He loves you exactly the way you are. He wouldn't change a single hair on your head. He thinks you are absolutely beautiful--EXACTLY the way you are, nevermind all the things you don't like about yourself, he thinks they make you special--make you a one of a kind creation! There is nobody in the world just like you, God made you to be special, to be different than every other person. Because he loves you. He loves you more than you realize.

God loves you so much, in fact, that he gave his only son to die for us, to die for you, so that his son, Jesus, could bear your burdens, your troubles, your sins, and then he gave each us the opportunity to trade burdens with his son, for as Jesus said, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Mat11:30). That's all asking to be saved is about--its asking the holy spirit to be present with you ALL the time, asking Jesus to come dwell in your heart. God loves you, and wants you to be happy. He wants you to be happy so badly that he'll give you the deepest desires of your heart--even they'd only make you miserable. But there is another choice, other than suffering...we can trade our burdens for the one that is light.

I hope you want to get to know Jesus in the same way I do, and not because I want to push my religion onto you, but because I want you to experience the joy I feel because I know God's son. Maybe you don't think you believe in God, but I know you believe in love (and if you don't, you're just supressing the truth and bitter). "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16) And if you don't know love, my heart goes out to you all the more, in prayer that you might get the opportunity to experience love and joy and peace.

So why not seek happiness instead of misery? "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."(John 3:16). With God on your side, who can be against you? Faith in God is unshakably trustworthy. "Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us fromthe love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom8:39) It is something nobody can take away from you. No matter how bad things are, there is always one thing you do have--and that's the love of Jesus. And that's what gets me through the hard days, when I have no family, no boyfriend, no husband, no kids, nobody. But I have the Lord, and he loves me more than anyone else ever could, and he'll never let me down. And he loves you that much too.

I never really "got" those streat corner preachers who'd stand there evangelizing about how we're all going to hell and need to repent of our sins. Well that's nice and all, and might be true and all, but, excuse me, does that make YOU want to get to know Jesus? It certainly didn't work for me. I was really surprised when I actually started reading the bible and discovered the true character of Jesus--everything about him revolved around love. Everything he did was out of love, he loved everyone around him, he treated strangers with love and respect.

The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other --Galations 5:14-15

God is soo good to me. He loves me so much. He can put a smile on my face in any circumstance, simply by reminding me his holy spirit is living inside of me--he's with me everywhere I go. He can stop the rain, he can open the floodgates of heaven. And he can take away all the misery and suffering from your life. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal 5:22) How could anyone not want that?

"It wasn't my legs working that made it happy. I mean, that was wonderful, but it came after. Jesus made me happy. All around there was this special feeling that went all over me, outside and in. It made everything good. Even if my legs had stayed the way they were, everything would have been good anyhow." --Ella, fictional character in A Love Divine by Alexandra Ripley (ch. 65)

That quote says it well. We all have our ways we are crippled and broken. But with Jesus in our lives, we are made whole, and he fills us up with his love. Forget about what those hypocrites said about hell in the past--it doesn't matter, ever heard the story about the plank in one's own eye and the speck in another's?--the only important thing is that you know how much Jesus loves you personally. And to the person who had a bone to pick with his neighbor's imperfections? "Go take that plank out of your own eye before you try and fix the speck in your neighbor's".

God tells us we shouldn't be afraid and we shouldn't worry--we shouldn't be worrying about money or how to feed ourselves, or any of those things we so often do. I know its hard to do. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Mat. 6:33) He'll take care of you--if only you let him.

I love God with all of my heart. He doesn't let me down. He's not some unreachable high and mighty guy in the sky--no, he's here and he's listening all the time. I can't count how many times I've been in the middle of praying and had God interrupt me with the answer to my prayer before I could even finish my thoughts. It just makes my life so much better to have God and Jesus be a part of it. Jesus is a really rad guy.

"if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). I promise you that will be one of the best decisions you'll ever make. I know it was the best one I ever made.

"Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love" (2John1:3)

Still not sure whether you should trust Christ?

Deep in your heart, it just feels like the right choice to make doesn't it? But one that you just want to put off till later--"yeah, I think I will...eventually". Been there. Done that. Don't recommend it. The only person you're cheating by doing that is yourself, because you could be experiencing the joy, regardless of your circumstances, of having the presence of the Holy Spirit in you, right now. All I can say is, I wouldn't want things in my life any other way, and the week after I prayed asking God for his gift of salvation, I had quite an interesting week, God wanting to prove to me I'd made the right choice, and that he loves me no matter what.

"Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love" (2 John 1:3)