Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Continuing our ‘D-Love’ of God appreciation, let’s examine His ‘Determined-Love’.

Today’s scripture, Hosea 1:2 (NLT) shares…
[2] 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.”

And Hosea 3:1 (NLT) shares…
[1] Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.”

Consider…
A month ago my wife had a random share after reading 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. She said…

The word REDEEMED really stood out to me after reading 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.

In verses 19 & and 20, God says, you are not your own, for God bought you with a high price (which was the sacrifice of His Son).

My mind almost immediately thought, WOW!!! 😲

• God created us. We were already His.
• We willingly chose slavery to sin, and basically walked away from Him. 😢
• So He paid the price to buy us back. ✝️

He REDEEMED us!!! He chose to repurchase what was already His to start 🤯 That is mind blowing.

What a mighty and loving God we serve!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 🥺🥺

Please permit me to add my two cents to my wife’s Divine revelation.

Today’s scriptures affirm her assessment of the ‘determined-love’ of God. In them we see God telling His prophet Hosea to demonstrate His ‘grace-laced’ ‘determined-love’ by marrying and redeeming a known prostitute! 🤯

This reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s testimony in Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)…
[8] But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. [9] And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. [10] For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. [11] So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

I think we sometimes skim the scriptures and miss significant truths like the one in Verse 8 that says in God’s GREAT Love He SENT His Son to REDEEM us known sinners.

To better appreciate the significance of that statement, let’s add the 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) testimony which says…
[21] For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

God sent His innocent Son to die for us known guilty sinners.

But the amazing mind-blowing ‘determined-love’ of God isn’t just limited to our Heavenly Father sending His only begotten Son. Indeed, in Mark 10:45 (NLT), Jesus testified…
[45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Which pivots me to a revelation the Holy Spirit gave me when my Pastor exhorted husbands from Ephesians 5:25 (NLT) this past Sunday. The verse says…
[25] For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her

The revelation was how Genesis 29:20, 28 (NLT) was a glimpse of Jesus doubling down on His perfect love for us.
The verses share…
[20] So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.
[28] So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too.

A couple of important things that stood out are…

• Seven is the number of perfection or completion. Jesus is perfect.
• Jacob initially worked seven years for Rachel. Jesus initially created us for relationship with Him.
• Jacob loved Rachel so much that He doubled down on having her by working another seven years. Jesus came and died to finally secure our relationship with Him.

Here’s where the Holy Spirit scripturally connected the dots. Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT) testifies…
[6] Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. [7] Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, [8] he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Jesus gave up His Divine freedom to become a slave and die a criminal’s death, to redeem us from sin and secure our eternal life with Him. That shows the depth of the Son of God’s ‘determined-love’ for us.

Reading this makes me want to add another bullet to my wife’s random share. Just as she said…

• We willingly chose slavery to sin, and basically walked away from Him. 😢
  …I would add based on Philippians 2 above…
• Jesus willingly walked away from His throne and became a slave for our sin to bring us back to Him 🙌🏾

As I let that marinate, I hear Jesus speaking in John 15:9 (NLT), saying…
[9] “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

And just a few verses later in John 15:13 (NLT) saying…
[13] There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

And while reading that last verse I hear Don Moen singing…

You loved me,
When I was so unlovely,
You sought me
When I was lost;
You showed me
How much You really loved me,
When You bought me
At the highest cost

There’s no greater love than this,
There’s no greater love than this,
That a man would give his life for a friend;
There’s no higher sacrifice
Than a man would give his life,
You have paid a precious price for me

You chose me,
When I was so unworthy
You cleansed me
With Your own blood;
You clothed me
With righteousness and mercy,
And You crowned me
With Your steadfast love

There’s no greater love than this,
There’s no greater love than this,
That a man would give his life for a friend;
There’s no higher sacrifice
Than a man would give his life,
You have paid a precious price for me

These lyrics are a great reminder of just how much Jesus unconditionally loves us.

The last point the Holy Spirit gave me regarding God’s ‘determined-love’ for us comes from Ephesians 1:4-7 (NLT), which shares…
[4] Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. [6] So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. [7] He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

“God decided in advance”! Let that marinate! 🤔

While marinating on it myself, I thought of a Jennifer Holiday song from the ‘Dreamgirls’ movie soundtrack that I would like to redeem for God. I hear God singing to us…

And I am telling you
I’m not going nowhere
You’re the child I wanted to know
There’s no way I will ever go
No, no, no, no way
No, no, no, no way I’m livin’ without you
I’m not livin’ without you
I want you to be free
I’m stayin’
I’m stayin’
And you, and you, you’re gonna love me
Oh, you’re gonna love me

The newly redeemed song made me think of 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) which reveals…
[9] The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

God is determined to give everyone a chance to turn away from sin and come to Him.

In my sanctified imagination, while the redeemed song is playing, the scene of the father running to his prodigal son that he sees from afar is playing out.

This reminds me that God’s ‘grace-laced’ ‘determined-love’ has Him watching and waiting for us to return to Him, when we too go astray like the prodigal son.

Let’s never forget that God didn’t have to love us, especially when we didn’t, and sometimes still don’t, love Him.

Before you challenge me on not loving Him, I would just encourage you to read James 4:2-5, John 14:15 and 1 John 4:8 for a love check.

Nevertheless, praise God that His love isn’t predicated on ours. Although by the world’s standards God would be justified in not loving those who don’t love Him. Yet, He decided to love us anyway and has been determined to show us how much since before creation as we read earlier in Ephesians 1:4.

The Holy Spirit reiterated God’s redemption intentionality with 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT). Scripture says…
[18] For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. [19] It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

That brings us full circle to my wife’s random share that…

• God created us. We were already His.
• We willingly chose slavery to sin, and basically walked away from Him. 😢
• Jesus willingly walked away from His throne and became a slave for our sin to bring us back to Him 🙌🏾
• And He paid the ultimate price with His life. ✝️

He REDEEMED us!!! He chose to repurchase what was already His to start 🤯

…plus my two cents that He did all of it because of His ‘grace-laced’ God ‘determined-love’!

Always remember that regardless of anything you think, say or do God loves you because HE decided to! And nothing that you think, say or do can, or will, change His decision!

Today’s song is…
He Loves Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)