The Risk Of Pursuing Love Series

Pursing love is Risky! Things haven’t changed in 3000 years. Our greatest pain still comes from the people we love, our spouses can hurt us the most, our children can break our hearts, our fiancés, our boyfriends, and girlfriends have the ability to crush us, even our moms and dads can cause great pain in our lives. The more we love a person, the greater the risk for pain!

GENESIS 1:27

Now I need to change gears for a moment. I am going to go thru several Scriptures very quickly. Please stay with me. You will see where I am going in just a few minutes. Turn to Genesis 1:27. Here is what it says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." We are created in God’s image. That means we are like God in many respects. So the question is what do our heartaches and heartbreaks teach us about God?

GENESIS 6:5-6

Turn to Genesis 6:5-6.

"The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”

So, God makes humanity and loves them. He loved spending time with Adam and Eve walking in the Garden. But humanity turns away from God, doesn’t walk with him anymore, and really this is the root of all sin and wickedness in the world. …Not wanting to be with God!

What is God like? How does God feel? He has a heart and it grieves! He feels great pain because the people he created to be with him don’t want to be with him! HE just wanted us to love him, but we don’t. His heart is broken.

NUMBERS 15:37

What else do we learn? Our relationships are a reflection of our relationship with him! In the Old Testament, Israel, God’s people are considered God’s bride. But they prostitute themselves to other gods by not keeping God’s instruction. Look at Numbers 15:39. In this passage God tells Moses to have the Israelites put tassels on their clothes so they will remember the way God pursued them and loved them while they were in Egypt and the wilderness.

You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.

The tassels are meant to remind them to keep God’s commands. The heart of which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4 which asks them: “To Love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength.

PSALM 23:6

Fast forward to Psalm 23:6. It is a familiar psalm that many of us love. It says: "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." The word follow really means to go after or to pursue. God says he will pursue us with his goodness and love, …even though we’ve walked away from him and broken his heart! God is pursuing us with his goodness and love! Maybe you came to church today, because God is on your tail. Maybe you see God working and pursuing one of your friends and you are here to see if you can partner with God in helping this friend come back to God.