The Power of Redemptive Love

“There is nothing more life-transforming than when you begin to grasp that the God of the universe has chosen to make you the object of His incredible love.”

I’ve been in ministry for many years, and I’ve met a lot of broken people. Some come from such painful, dysfunctional backgrounds that I’ve wondered, Is it possible for this person, who has suffered so much, ever to be normal again? How will they ever have healthy relationships or begin to understand God’s love? But I also can tell you with complete certainty that God’s love is a powerful thing. I’ve seen it act in the lives of damaged people in ways that defy description. As they experience the love of God, their walls break down, removing the darkness left by their past. And after they’ve walked in His love, you might not even recognize them. They have been made new in Christ, washed by His blood, and empowered by His love.

This month, we meet an unusual couple: Hosea and Gomer. Hosea, one of God’s chosen servants, was commanded to marry Gomer, a deeply damaged woman. God told him, “Go, marry, a promiscuous woman and have children with her” (Hosea 1:3).

Many scholars believe Gomer was a prostitute by profession. The only “love” she had experienced was transactional. I can imagine that she was skeptical. How could Hosea love her? Even after they married, her doubts lingered and she again chose promiscuity. But God did not give up. He told Hosea, “Go, show your love to your wife again” (3:1). Hosea’s persistent, forgiving love was a lesson for God’s people. As one scholar noted, “If the love of man can be so deep, how unfathomable must be the love of God.”

Friends, the same love pursues you and me today. In the New Testament, John writes, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). He’s talking about the love of God as something that he has personally experienced. There is nothing more life-transforming than when you begin to grasp that the God of the universe, a God who knows all things and is all-powerful, has chosen to make you the object of His incredible love. God has not given up on you. Turn to Him today and accept His faithful, powerful, redemptive love.