I Will Freely Love Them

"I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them." Hosea 14:4

I will love them freely.

Freely means without cost or payment. It means given as a gift. When Jesus sends the disciples out and tells them to heal the sick and cleanse the lepers, he tells them they received freely, so give freely, and he means do not put a price on it. When Paul says we are justified freely by his grace, he means there is no invoice.

And it also means willingly. Spontaneously. Without being compelled. David says he will freely sacrifice, and what he means is that nobody made him do it. There is no obligation in the room.

To love freely, there has to be freedom.

Which brings me to the phrase I wish we would bury, and I mean bury it in the church first. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

It sounds like brotherly love. It sounds like unity. It is faithlessness with good manners. Because the moment that motto gets into the heart of a church, it requires obedience without love, and it turns a relationship into a transaction, and a transaction always has terms. Which means it can always be breached. And when it is breached, either side now has the right to leave, or to withhold, or to be cruel.

That is not love. That is bondage with a friendly face.

And most of us are running this arrangement with God and do not know it. Jesus, I come to church, I give, I serve, I have done my part. And I am not being blessed right now. So you are not doing yours.

Listen to me. The transaction already happened. It happened between Christ and the Father, and the debt was paid, and you were not a party to it.

There is nothing left to negotiate.

He is not going to love you more if you produce, and he is not going to love you less if you fail.

He said he would love you freely.

Let him.