Unrequited love

Guy meets girl. Guy falls in love with girl, but she has a boyfriend.  (OH NOES!) They become close, at which point she realises she loves him too, but because of some quarrel or obstacle or misunderstanding, they part ways. After approximately 10 minutes of screen-time, they realise they were meant for each other and reunite while dramatic music plays [optional slow motion running]. Roll credits.

There you have the basic plot of 50% of Hollywood films.

... and the other 50% is the same, with the genders reversed.

Do any of you realise that at least part of this happens in our lives too?

God made us to live in a loving relationship with Him and each other. We wrecked that by doing that ONLY thing He told us not to do. We rebelled and we ran from Him. This is the point in the movie where you're going "FAR OUT, GIRL, WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THE GUY YOU'RE WITH IS A JERK?!"

But okay. The screenwriter makes it obvious that there is something charming about the guy she's with. For some reason, she's blinded and can't see that she's meant to be with the main guy.

In the same way, we're also blinded. We live in this broken world and fall in love with the things that are ultimately going to leave us thirsting for more.

The girl continually rejects the guy she's meant to be with and clings to that other dude. Male protagonist is left heartbroken. When we run away from God, His heart breaks. When we sin against Him, His heart breaks. He loves us. HE LOVES US. But we're too busy being obsessed with the world that we don't even see God half the time. We don't see the plans He has for us, and we demand to go our own way.

So anyway, the next part of the movie is where they grow close and she goes, "Hm.. maybe I should be with this guy." But obviously, every movie has to have conflict, and somehow they part ways. Some of us are lucky enough to have heard about Jesus. In fact, I'm fairly sure Jesus has revealed Himself to everyone reading this right now. We know about God's love for us and it's exciting. For a while. Then it fades and we start pulling away. We will have moments when we're really on fire for God, and then the moments where we're once again blinded by the world and all that it offers. Satan is a master of deceit; he will never stop using the things around us to try and pull us away from God.

But let's move on with our story. After a while, the girl realises she is meant to be with the guy, and the thing I've always found strange about these movies is that he never goes, "BUT YOU WERE WITH THAT IDIOT FOR AGES AND YOU REJECTED ME EVEN THOUGH I LOVE YOU," he just accepts her; no questions asked. Hrm. Somehow I don't think it works like that in real life.. but it works with God. The second we turn back to Him, He's there with open arms, waiting to accept us back.

Each and every one of you has heard about God. He has sent His Spirit to work in your life, and it's now up to you to respond. It's like Pastor Nelson said - if someone came up to you and handed you a million dollars, you can either take it or reject it. You don't add anything to the gift, but you do have to accept it, otherwise you're going miss out.

So are you going to make your crappy eighty million dollar budget Hollywood rom com have a happy ending, or are you going to stick with the jerk?