Promises, Promises

 

“I vow to love you in all your forms, to always remember that this is a once in a lifetime love. No matter what challenges may come our way, I’ll always find my way back to you.” - Leo 

Ladies, you may have already seen The Vow and men you may have been dragged along to it by your fairer half but if you haven’t seen it, here’s a quick overview: 

 **spoiler alert** 

After a married couple are involved in a car accident the woman loses her memory from before she met her husband to the present day. After the confusion of going home with a man whom she no longer knows she returns to her family and her old life. Her husband is devastated but because he still loves her he tries to woo her back. This is ultimately unsuccessful and they divorce. Eventually, although she never regains her memory, she comes to her senses, that there was a reason why she left her old life and married him and so she returns to him and they live happily ever after.

The husband in The Vow reminds me a little bit of Jesus of Nazareth. He loved us and brought us into his family and made us his own and didn’t just sign a piece of paper to make it happen but did it at the cost of his own life. 

Yet we forget that so often when we sin. We want to go back to our old life; it looks so good in comparison to him and we feel like we don’t even know him anymore but when we turn back to our old sinful life that doesn’t stop his love toward us. Like the husband in The Vow, Jesus will not let us go. He promised to love us despite our sin and so He will. 

This causes us to say, like the wife in The Vow, “Thank you. You accepted me for who I am, not what you wanted me to be.” Jesus came to rescue sinners (who I am), not the righteous. Christ never gives up on us and he always pursues us; not because we are good or have done anything or will do anything to earn his love, but because He made a promise to us, a vow if you will. 

He vows to never leave us, nor forsake us, to always save us from His anger and He vows to give us the Holy Spirit who helps us and brings us back to him when we fall into sin. When we sin the Holy Spirit vows to say to you “you’ve done a wicked thing buddy, but Jesus still loves you, he died for you, he has kept his vow to you to save you, you are still part of this family, you are still forgiven.” Be comforted by that love and come on home.