Collector’s Edition

I remember as a kid, I loved collecting comic books. Even today, I’m still an avid reader (I like to read my favorites online). But back then I was absolutely driven to keep every single book in mint condition. There were times I would read one of the books, but maybe only once or twice. If I really wanted to read it, I would buy one copy to read and another to save in “mint.” But I couldn’t just have one book. No way! I had to have as many “valuable” comics as I could. I wanted a complete collection of neatly stored and “value-safe” comic books.

I often find myself treating God and other people like comic books. I’m not treating them like trash or neglecting them, but I’m distancing myself from them. They become just a set of things I can value from afar and take pride in, but I don’t really know the stories they hold. They’re all just there to make me feel alright about myself. I don’t want to be challenged by God’s call to repent. I don’t want to get into the messiness of peoples’ lives and really seek to love them. I just amass a meaningless collection made solely for my own self-seeking affirmation. And just like my comic book collection, ultimately it all just ends up in a box in my closet, collecting dust, just waiting for that moment when I want them back again. Such a selfish way to look at relationships!

In Israel, God chose a selfish, weak and stubborn people. Time and time again they marginalized Him, insulted Him, resented Him and cheated on Him with other gods. Yet still He says to them “…behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her…And I will betroth you to me forever…And You shall know the LORD” (Hosea 2:14, 19-20) Such sweet and tender words!!

Though God’s heart is broken time and time again, He never gives up. The love He has is a love that transcends and breaks down sin. It runs sin over and topples down strongholds of guilt and fear. It destroys idolatry and melts the cold heart. The love of God is not the love of a collector for His large and valuable collection, but the love of a husband for His one, true love. It is a love that reconciles through any sin. It is a burning and desirous love. It is a Gospel love.

This is the love we also should have for Him, as a wife for her husband. This is also the love we share with each other, as a kingdom family seeking to build each other up. This is the love we share with a hurting world, as God reconciles sinners to Himself through Jesus.

Oh God that your love would overflow in me. Set my heart afire in that love for You. And in joy, might I share that love, the love you shared with us in the Gospel, with the individuals, the multitudes and the nations.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God” (1 Jn 3:1)

Advertisement

---