I have been enthralled but also fascinated at how a TV show can be so crude when dealing with people’s emotions and feelings. “The Farmer Wants A Wife” is such a show where a farmer (in the latest episode there is actually a female farmer but in the past they have all usually been men) searches for a wife out of a possibility of 3 or 4 choices.
From the show there are two outcomes – you either win or you lose!! But the farmer never loses. They at least have a choice of who to pick from. The contestants have to face off to win the affections of the farmer to see if they are the most suitable person for them. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. But one thing I do notice is that the one who loses out, the one who has invested so much time, energy, emotion, wooing, so much of their heart can leave empty and broken and shattered.
What sort of a show makes a competition of love (Much like the other show called “The Bachelor”) where the feelings of people can be messed around with so much for the purposes of TV ratings and for reality TV? What sort of show sets a person up for the best case scenario of a relationship and even marriage and then where one can get shot down so quickly?
The Lord does not do that to people fortunately. When he starts a relationship, he sees it thru till the end. If the relationship seems a bit rocky and hits the skids, it’s always originates from our end, not his. What kind of a relationship can we find where we are loved for who we really are, as disobedient rebels who often put ourselves first before others. What kind of a relationship can we find where someone would send their own son to die in our place so we can be set free and made righteous so we can have life and have it to the full. Jesus doesn’t mess around with our emotions – he seeks a relationship with us, he pursues us and he shows the wounds in his hands that were paid for our sake. This is the God we’re dealing with; it’s not a performance, there’s no ratings approvals that need to be met. God’s love is 100% real, it’s genuine and it’s perfect.
At our Ringwood service and in a couple of months at Corowa, we’ll be looking at a series of parables that Jesus told regarding farming and agriculture in a sermon series called “The Farmer Chooses Life.” If you want to find out more about this real-ationship that Jesus offers us, please come along and be encouraged by God’s Word.