Scandalous Love… sounds like we are standing in line at the grocery store and scanning the tabloid headlines! Those magazines can be tantalizing, but probably not ones you admit to reading. They are just a little to salacious. It is strange, but God’s Word: the Bible, is full of scandal and things that seem salacious. The book Hosea, is one of those. It is a book that reveals and describes God’s love for a rebellious people who prostitute themselves to other god’s who are actually not god’s at all. They are simply mankind’s escape and excuse to exercise our autonomous and broken character. We seem to want to flaunt our independence in the face of God and expect Him to either be intimidated by our boldness or passively accepting of our arrogance.
We have been and will be asking and trying to answer the question, “What does it look like to love… in any given situation or circumstance of real life?” To love God with our entire being and to love our neighbor as ourselves is the first and foremost commandments given us by the Lord. So this thing called love is a high priority to Him. In the midst of that Jesus instructs us to love like He loves, and that by that the world will know that we are distinctively His people. So, the logical question would be “What does it look like when God loves… in any given situation or circumstance of real life?”
The scriptures reveal and describe that love from cover to cover in literally thousands of situations and circumstances. It is our endeavor to engage many of those stories and distill their essence so that we might apply them in our lives. The book of Hosea is one such story… a place where grace and truth is integrated as a unique expression of God and His love. It is a book in which we will cry, laugh, squirm and rejoice… a book in which we will learn much from His Scandalous Love for mankind.