Boundless Love: Jeremiah 31:31-34 - Christ the King Sunday

It is said, “If you love someone, set them free.”

It took me a long time to understand that saying, because if you love someone, you don’t want to live without them. You don’t want to let them go. But I’ve learned that you can love someone with all your heart, but you cannot make them love you back. Nor can you control their choices.

This is why learning to let go is so difficult in relationships, but also so necessary if you are going to live a healthy and meaningful life.

When you love somebody, you are making yourself vulnerable. You are putting yourself in a position where the person you love can hurt you, either by mistreating you, taking advantage of you, or by pulling you into their disfunction.

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This is where the skill of detachment comes in. You’re not ending the relationship or refusing to love the person; rather, you learn that love does not obligate you to endure abuse and mistreatment. You learn that you are not responsible for someone else’s behavior. You learn that you cannot save the person from the consequences of their actions. You learn that when you endure their abuse and give into their destructive impulses, you are actually hurting them and opening the door for them to hurt others (all the while they are hurting you).

There may come a time when letting go is the only loving thing you can do. This is heartbreaking. Even though you have invested so much of yourself in that person, you cannot make them do the right thing.

But does this rule apply to God?

The prophet Jeremiah, along with Isaiah, Ezekiel, and many others, stood within the breach that existed between God and his people. The people had chosen to reject God, cast aside his commandments, and worship other gods. Their greed and violence metastasized to the point that both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of divided Israel could not hold themselves together as evil empires closed in on their borders. By the time Jeremiah begins his prophetic ministry, there is nothing that can be done to stop the inevitable. Babylon will destroy Jerusalem, burn down the temple, and carry God’s people into exile. And God will not intervene to keep it from happening, though not because God has rejected his people. God is letting them go for a time so that God can bring them and back love them forever.

God’s people may have broken faith, but God will not. The people rejected God’s law, so God is going to write it on their hearts. God will be so relentless that one person will no longer say to the other, “know the Lord.” God will love his people, whether they like it or not.

In the meantime, there will be many difficult years ahead. There will be loss, there will be death, there will be judgment. But God’s love will prevail.

This truth is our hope as we face a frightening world and an uncertain future.

It's not for me or anyone else to say if we are living in the end times. But the Scriptures warn us, repeatedly, that chaos and calamities will precede the coming of God’s Kingdom. Trials and tribulations will be signs for us that the Lord, indeed, is near.

God will not break faith. God will not give up on you, God will not give up on the neighbor, God will not give up on the world. Full stop.

God is going to put his law within you. God will write it on your heart, and be your God. God is going to break the power of sin and give you new birth in righteousness. So, how will this truth change your outlook on the future? Will this truth change how you live today?

Why not listen to God’s Word now? Why not repent now?

What’s power and privilege worth in worldly kingdoms that come and go? What good are worldly treasures when they’re obsolete tomorrow? Why should we put so much effort into fighting our enemies when God’s going to force us into reconciliation? Why just survive when we are meant to thrive?

Hopelessness is silly when we can see so clearly what God is up to. Sure, our congregations are small, but we know mighty God can be! 3,000 pieces of clothing distributed and over 100 people enjoyed a delicious, free lunch, because of what God is doing in you. Broken hearts and grieving souls are being healed because of what God is doing in you. Hundreds will enjoy a free thanksgiving meal because of what God is doing in you. Look at us, here, worshiping together under one roof, soon to gather at the Lord’s table and break bread downstairs. God is doing a new thing, and it is good.

Make no mistake: the Lord is near, and no one can hold him back. It'll be much more pleasant for you to welcome God into your life rather than forcing him to break down the door!

God’s love is boundless, God’s love is all-powerful, God’s love is inescapable. Let go, and let God’s love in.