{"id":29257,"date":"2023-12-25T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hosea-2_14-23-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-12-19T18:10:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T01:10:15","slug":"hosea-3_1-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hosea-3_1-5\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Truths about God\u2019s Love for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hosea 3:1-5 <\/strong>\u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Hosea\u00a03:1-5.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

In this passage the LORD tells Hosea to reach out to his unfaithful wife, in effect not only forgiving her but restoring her as his bride.\u00a0 These verses teach us some powerful truths about who God is and what His love for us is like.<\/p>\n

Hosea 3:1 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 1: Here we learn that\u00a0God\u2019s love for you is unconditional.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0We see God\u2019s unconditional love when verse 1 says \u201cthe Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes\u201d (v1).<\/p>\n

God tells the prophet\u00a0Hosea\u00a0to love his wife, though she had cheated on him, with that same unconditional love: \u201cGo, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.\u00a0 Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites\u201d (v1).\u00a0 Though we don\u2019t always love God, God always loves us.\u00a0 That\u2019s the incredible, unconditional love of God for us.<\/p>\n

Hosea 3:2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 2:\u00a0 God\u2019s love for you is redemptive.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0What does it mean to redeem something?\u00a0 It means to buy something back, to regain possession of something you lost by paying a price for it.\u00a0 We see that in verse 2.\u00a0\u00a0Hosea\u2019s wife had run away and become a prostitute, but\u00a0Hosea\u00a0finds her and pays 15 shekels of silver and about 330 litres of barley to buy her back.<\/p>\n

In the same way, when we had run away from God, made a mess of our lives and become slaves to sin, God paid the highest price to redeem us, to regain possession of us.\u00a0 God paid far more than silver and barley to redeem us.\u00a0 The redemption price God paid for your life was the precious blood of His Son Jesus Christ.\u00a0 God our redeemer paid the highest price to get us back.<\/p>\n

Hosea 3:3-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and to his blessings in the last days.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-5:\u00a0 God\u2019s love casts a new vision for your life<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0In verse\u00a03,\u00a0Hosea\u00a0casts a new vision for Gomer\u2019s future.\u00a0 He basically says, \u201cNo longer will you be a prostitute, or give yourself to someone else.\u00a0 Instead you will live with me many days and I will be faithful to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, in verses 4-5, God casts a new vision for His people: instead of being unfaithful idol worshipers (v4), He says they will \u201creturn and seek the Lord their God and\u00a0David their king<\/em>\u201d (v5).\u00a0 By the way, King David had died centuries before\u00a0Hosea\u00a0wrote down this prophecy, so who is\u00a0Hosea\u00a0referring to when he says, \u201cDavid their king\u201d?\u00a0 It\u2019s a reference to the Messiah who would be born to David\u2019s line and who would be their king one day \u2013 i.e. Jesus Christ the Son of David.\u00a0 As God\u2019s people we were made to return and to seek God and His Son Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Just as\u00a0Hosea\u2019s love gave him a new vision for his wife, just as God\u2019s love gave God a new vision for the Israelites, God has a new vision for your life too.\u00a0 Instead of an idol worshiper, God made you to be someone who returns to God, who seeks Him, who fears \u00a0God and who experiences His blessing and peace.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s love for you is unconditional, but God doesn\u2019t want you to stay the same.\u00a0 He\u2019s here to give you a new, God-centered vision for your life.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that there\u2019s nothing I could ever do to make You love me more or make You love me less.\u00a0 Your love for me is unconditional! Thank You that Your love for me inspires me to pursue a greater, God-centered vision for my life, and empowers me to live out that vision.\u00a0 Thank You for the unconditional, redemptive, empowering love of Christ in my life.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Hosea\u00a03:1-5.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

In this passage the LORD tells Hosea to reach out to his unfaithful wife, in effect not only forgiving her but restoring her as his bride.\u00a0 These verses teach us some powerful truths about who God is and what His love for us is like.<\/p>\n

Hosea 3:1 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn verse 1: Here we learn that\u00a0God\u2019s love for you is unconditional.\u00a0\u00a0We see God\u2019s unconditional love when verse 1 says \u201cthe Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes\u201d (v1).\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nGod tells the prophet\u00a0Hosea\u00a0to love his wife, though she had cheated on him, with that same unconditional love: \u201cGo, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.\u00a0 Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites\u201d (v1).\u00a0 Though we don\u2019t always love God, God always loves us.\u00a0 That\u2019s the incredible, unconditional love of God for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29257"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29260,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29257\/revisions\/29260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}