Confession time: My wife and I have been following the “reality” show The Bachelor this year. Normally we aren’t the ideal audience for the “reality TV drama” but we were bored and gave it a try. Sadly we got sucked into the reality drama.
If you aren’t like my wife and I, and haven’t seen the show, let me set up how the show is structured. One lucky man and 28 women go on various dates in an attempt to find “true love.” Each week the guy has to eliminate a number of women at the rose ceremony. Only the women who get offered (and accept) a rose are guaranteed another week. This process continues until ultimately he is left with two women and he must choose which one he will continue a relationship with, and possibly marry.
Throughout the show I thought of how silly this is. All these women acting undignified in attempts to “woo” this single guy. Each woman makes such large attempts to receive love from this guy that they sometimes make a fool of themselves. But then I began to look at the show in a different light. What if Jesus (Bible calls Him the Groom) were The Bachelor? And we were the contestants. We don’t fight for God’s love and attention, and why is that. Is it because we are too busy for God, or we don’t see Him so it’s hard to fight for the unseen? Luckily for us we don’t have to fight for God’s love.
John 15:16 NKJV
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
He loves each and every one of us immensely with unconditional love. And unlike The Bachelor, at our “rose ceremony” everyone is offered a rose, this rose is salvation, eternal life. We don’t have to act undignified, do crazy stunts, or say any magic words, to get it. All we have to do is reach out and accept it. We accept it by acknowledging who we are: sinners, messy people who make make mistakes and need help. Acknowledge who God is: the Savior and Lord of our lives. Believe that He loved us enough to send His only Son to die as payment for our sins. Believe that Jesus did die for us, but rose again from the grave. Confess that we need help and saving from our sinful life and give our lives over to God.
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
However, just like in the TV Show, just because The Bachelor (in our case Jesus) offers you a rose, doesn’t mean your in. Women on the show, as well as people in life reject the offer all the time. Seems silly to reject the rose on TV since getting the guy is the whole point behind the show. But rejecting God’s rose (Salvation) is a much larger decision with larger consequences. You have nothing to loose by taking th free gift, but you have everything to loose if you reject it. Believe it or not, Heaven and Hell are both real places. Our souls will spend eternity in one of those two places. If given the choice which would you choose: a. eternity if a lake of fire with eternal torement. Or b. eternity with God, where there’s no pain, no hurt, no problems, just peace and happiness? The choice is that easy.
If you aren’t like my wife and I, and haven’t seen the show, let me set up how the show is structured. One lucky man and 28 women go on various dates in an attempt to find “true love.” Each week the guy has to eliminate a number of women at the rose ceremony. Only the women who get offered (and accept) a rose are guaranteed another week. This process continues until ultimately he is left with two women and he must choose which one he will continue a relationship with, and possibly marry.
Throughout the show I thought of how silly this is. All these women acting undignified in attempts to “woo” this single guy. Each woman makes such large attempts to receive love from this guy that they sometimes make a fool of themselves. But then I began to look at the show in a different light. What if Jesus (Bible calls Him the Groom) were The Bachelor? And we were the contestants. We don’t fight for God’s love and attention, and why is that. Is it because we are too busy for God, or we don’t see Him so it’s hard to fight for the unseen? Luckily for us we don’t have to fight for God’s love.
John 15:16 NKJV
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
He loves each and every one of us immensely with unconditional love. And unlike The Bachelor, at our “rose ceremony” everyone is offered a rose, this rose is salvation, eternal life. We don’t have to act undignified, do crazy stunts, or say any magic words, to get it. All we have to do is reach out and accept it. We accept it by acknowledging who we are: sinners, messy people who make make mistakes and need help. Acknowledge who God is: the Savior and Lord of our lives. Believe that He loved us enough to send His only Son to die as payment for our sins. Believe that Jesus did die for us, but rose again from the grave. Confess that we need help and saving from our sinful life and give our lives over to God.
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
However, just like in the TV Show, just because The Bachelor (in our case Jesus) offers you a rose, doesn’t mean your in. Women on the show, as well as people in life reject the offer all the time. Seems silly to reject the rose on TV since getting the guy is the whole point behind the show. But rejecting God’s rose (Salvation) is a much larger decision with larger consequences. You have nothing to loose by taking th free gift, but you have everything to loose if you reject it. Believe it or not, Heaven and Hell are both real places. Our souls will spend eternity in one of those two places. If given the choice which would you choose: a. eternity if a lake of fire with eternal torement. Or b. eternity with God, where there’s no pain, no hurt, no problems, just peace and happiness? The choice is that easy.
Bro. Austin Chapman is the Youth Minister
at Sugar Creek Baptist in Murray, KY and founder
of Inflamed Church Ministries. View Austin's
personal online ministry blog iPursueWorship.
at Sugar Creek Baptist in Murray, KY and founder
of Inflamed Church Ministries. View Austin's
personal online ministry blog iPursueWorship.
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