Love, the supreme of all emotions is ascribed to God. When it relates to humans it takes different forms and connotations based on our desires. We try to find love everyday through different means. Love fills our hearts and when the heart is deprived of love, it starts looking for in both good and bad places. Momentary love pursuits leave a greater vacuum in the heart.
Author Bruce Marshall once said, “A man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God.”. This statement has always reminded me of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, in which He used her love to introduce her to living water. The Gospel writer in the Bible records this fabulous incident of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman near the well. Jesus rests near the well after a long trip and wanted a drink from the Samaritan lady who had come to draw water from the well. During the conversation with her, Jesus claims that the water He gives will not make her thirsty again. This is the quote of what Jesus said. “But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again.” Surprised by what Jesus said, she wanted to claim the offer from Jesus hoping that she need not come and draw the water from the well anymore. But Jesus was referring to the longing of her heart. And now comes the interesting part of the story. He asks her to call her husband to which she said that she doesn’t have a husband. Jesus immediately narrates the fact of her life by saying “You have correctly said, I don’t have a husband, for you had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.”. The lady was stunned at His awareness of the facts of her life and encounters Jesus, the embodiment of love. The conversation she had with Him was satisfying and promising. It is further recorded that she runs to the village to introduce Christ to them and brought the whole village to Him.
People yearn and pursue love in different places only to get stuck in the pit of loneliness. The law of pleasure states, that every time one goes to find pleasure in wrong places, the yearning becomes more but less satisfying. When your heart is empty of love, you don’t find the purpose of living a meaningful life. Man’s purpose is designed by God who is full of love. The Bible tells us that “This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts…”. The destination for love is Jesus. His sacrifice through which we find forgiveness from our sins and hope to live are worth experiencing.
Sinful pleasures are always inviting. We give into them and are later filled with a trail of regrets. Garett puts it so beautifully, ‘Before sin, Satan is the tempter who whispers, “You should do this!” After sin, Satan is the accuser who whispers, “How could you have done this!” Satan kills through temptation and buries with guilt.’. He pushes us into a greater vacuum of desperation and longing. We fail to realize it is God who can bring about a calm in our stormy soul. George MacDonald states, ‘The cry of the deepest in man has always been to see God’ and when this is unfilled the longing for true love increases. Jesus Christ came into this world to assure us of this fact that only He can fill the vacuum and has the power to save us from this toxic cycle of sin. He died on the cross to break the cycle and fill our hearts with love. When you commit to know Him and follow Him your soul is satisfied and rests.
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