Naked Love: Week 1

Senior Pastor Jim White opened the first weekend in December with the compelling series Naked Love. Sounds scandalous. While the title made some blush as they were forced into levels of discomfort, others perked up as their interest peaked at this seemingly taboo topic.

There are a couple of key verses to focus on, but in order to understand their significance we must first understand the background. The Lord told Hosea to go find a prostitute and wed her. Come again, God? You lost me at prostitute. Hosea 1:2 (NLT) says “When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, ‘Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.’”

During this time, corruption and idolatry were at an all-time high. The children of Israel blatantly sinned against the Lord, rejecting him and devoting themselves to the worship of false gods.  Harlotry was on the loose and Gomer, Hosea’s wife, lived a wild life of promiscuity and adultery. If we can’t imagine how God felt watching Israel’s destructive behavior, at least let’s try to imagine how Hosea may have felt. He loved his wife and he was ordered to love her children as his own, even though she bore them to other men during their marriage. Gomer’s betrayal of Hosea mirrored Israel’s betrayal of God, and eventually both were given an ultimatum: either get your act together or deal with the consequences.

After the harsh warnings given to Gomer and Israel, Hosea recalls in 3:1 (NIV), “The Lord said to me, ‘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 and love the sacred raisin cakes.’” So, first you tell me to go find a prostitute and marry her, and then when she completely destroys our marriage, you charge me to go back to her? And to love her?

God challenged Hosea to demonstrate love in a sense that is lost in today’s world. As Pastor White puts it, the kind of love that has “nothing to do with how lovable a person is…where nothing can be done to make you love that person more and nothing can be done to make you love that person less.” This is how our Father loves us. He loves us so much that even when we cheat on him he wants nothing more than to grab us, hug us, and start fresh. And don’t think we don’t cheat on God. We know when we commit the “big sins” of drinking in excess at a party, starting rumors about a friend behind their back or engaging in sexually immoral behavior. Let’s not forget, though, that the sins we tend to overlook hold the same amount of weight: casually glancing over our classmate’s shoulder during a test to “check our answers;” hoping that the person we “just don’t like” trips and falls into oncoming traffic while crossing the street; not letting go of that grudge from “the incident” that happened three years ago.

As God’s children we are charged to behave differently, to demonstrate love as Christ would. In 3:3 (The Message), Hosea explains to us how he obeys God’s command: “Then I told her, ‘From now on you’re living with me. No more whoring, no more sleeping around. You’re living with me and I’m living with you.’” We could all take a lesson from Hosea in humility and obedience, in forgiveness and in exercising pure love. Hosea was in a situation that would have been more than easy, and completely justifiable, to walk away from and he made the choice to stay. He made the choice to love his wife. He made the choice to obey the Lord.

In what aspects of your life are you acting as a harlot, cheating on God?

How can you let God be your Hosea, allowing him to take control and draw you back to him? 
Better yet, how can you let God be your God?