"Somebody Loves You

“Somebody Loves You”

February 11, 2007

Thirty five years ago, I met a wonderful girl. She was beautiful, sexy, talented, deeply committed to the Lord, and named after a queen. After spending some time with her I decided to make her the queen of my castle. It will be thirty five years ago this valentines day that I asked Queen Julianne to marry me. She consented and we committed ourselves to each other until death parts us.

Valentine’s Day is a romantic holiday. Big business knows that and makes a ton off of people’s emotions. They sell millions of cards, and tons of candy, and bushels of flowers and anything else that is even slightly romantic. It seems like stuff they are pushing is more sexual in nature these days.

But the fact of the matter is that most people will be spending Valentine’s Day in a love vacuum. That’s a place that doesn’t have enough love in it. And when they see the flowers and the hearts and the candy, they experience a little painful twist in their hearts, like ol’ cupid stuck his arrow in there and gave it a mean twist.

Many people think of lost love on this holiday. Divorce, broken relationships, regrets over the way things were said or handled come to mind. “What if I would have done this?” “What if I would have done that?” An old Eagles song says, “What do you do when your dreams come true – and they aren’t quite like you planned?” And many people live alone with someone else. And we face such importance, like whom we will spend the rest of our lives together, when we are so immature.

And nearly everyone sees all the romantic hoopla conjured up by Hollywood, swallows it, hook-line-and-sinker, realize they are not living that utopian lie, and are left feeling cheated or let down or that somehow life has passed them by with it’s passion fruit.

You need to know that Hollywood is a lie. This week one of the most beautiful women in the world died. Like Marilyn Monroe who died at 36, Jean Harlow, who died at 26), Jayne Mansfield, who died at 34, Anna Nicole Smith died young at age 39. All these women were beautiful. But they had more than that in common. They partied hard, they all were sex symbols; All were suppose to be the epitome of womanhood. And all married multiple times, apparently looking for that one true love. Their lives seemed to be empty of the one real thing they longed for – love. And in that they were quite normal. We are all looking for love. Unfortunately, like one of the old Eagles songs say, we look for it in all the wrong places.

As we approach this Valentine’s Day, I want you to know that you are loved more than you know – more than you can imagine. You are cherished. Max Lucado said,

"If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen."...

Jesus, Himself said, "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

You were created by God to be His bride. The Bible says,

“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

"Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, "Write: ’Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, "These are the true words of God." Rev. 19:6-9

I don’t know what that all means. I think the concept of us being God’s bride is way too deep for us. But He did reveal some things. I think it means that He wants us to spend eternity with Him as His partner. We will rule and reign with Him for eternity. We will live in a honeymoon state forever. The honeymoon never ends. We will be loved and valued and appreciated –eternally! All our faults and failing blemishes will be gone. We will be pure and perfect. God can do that for us, His bride.

Do you remember your honeymoon? Sometimes in relationships we say they are “in the honeymoon phase”. When a pastor goes to an new church – the first few weeks or first few months are called the honeymoon phase. That’s because in the honeymoon we see everything through eyes of love. We overlook faults. We overlook character defects – or if we notice them we are confident they will change. In that phase, all the faults are small. All the good qualities are magnified. It usually doesn’t take long to come back to reality. But, you know what? Eternity is going to be an eternal honeymoon. We are the bride of Christ and He will treat us with love and kindness and generously pour out His magnificent treasures on us for all eternity.