I found love in a hopeless place…

John 15.9

 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

Let me set the scene.

It is a typical farming afternoon.

A farmer from Bangor, Northern Ireland, decides to head out on his routine check of his livestock around his farm.

He sets of in his trusty tractor driving across the fields.

However.

As he approaches one of the fields, instead of seeing his usual cows happily munching away on the green green grass of Northern Ireland he is met with a rather different scenario.

There.

In his field.

Is one of the most beautiful, sought after, high profile, celebrities in the world today.

Not only that.

There was a camera crew, make up team, management team, production team, director and security all in his field too.

This farmer had stepped onto the set of the most recent music video starring the world pop sensation, Rihanna.

Rihanna was in his field!!!

And not only that.

The appropriately nicknamed ‘Barbadian Beauty’ was frolicking around his field wearing little clothing which to be honest, for the month of October in Northern Ireland, is a brave feat for anyone.

What a scene to approach.

Every time I have accompanied my Dad to check the livestock on my farm not once have I bumped into Rihanna!

Not once!

However the farmers reaction was not to get his pen and paper ready and to ask for an autograph, nor was it to get his camera charged so he could get his photo taken with the star so he could show all his friends, nor was it to spray on his finest aftershave and to buck up the courage to take the star out on a hot date to see the sights and sounds of Bangor, Northern Ireland.

The complete opposite really.

The farmer did not approve the activities taking place on his farm and ordered Rihanna and her entourage to remove themselves immediately from his farm at once.

He was having none of it.

The story went worldwide.

It was even claimed that the farmer had no idea who Rihanna even was and many critics believed the simple country of Northern Ireland was a laughing stock over the whole fiasco.

To be honest at first I thought it was amazing that such a world superstar had chosen to film her new music video in my home country.

Felt honoured.

Proud.

However it slowly dawned on me.

Rihanna’s new song, video set in Northern Ireland, filmed in Belfast, was called “Found love in a hopeless place….”

Was she referring to Belfast as a hopeless place?

Surely not!

Had she chosen to shoot her new music video here because well….it fitted the song and the title “hopeless place?”

The song got me thinking.

Hopeless place.

What is a hopeless place?

A place where there is no reason to believe, to dream, to hope something might come true.

Like in the middle of a rain stricken desert, completely barren of water, with no hope of any plant to grow.

Or take the middle of a natural disaster such as a tsunami, or an earthquake, were there is no hope for survival.

Or take the world.

The very world you and I live in.

A world that is filled with heartbreak, war, terrorism, pain, suffering, death, bullying, racism, sectarianism, fighting, evil thoughts, pornography, murder, stealing, adultery, eating disorders, starvation, worries, fears, doubts.

Hopeless.

Or take your life.

School, university, work, church, family, friends, relationships.

For a lot of people, one of the above, is a hopeless place.

A place were they experience pain.

Sorrow.

Sadness.

Hurt.

Hopelessness.

It was straight after a routine morning J2 meeting at Muskoka Woods when I learnt one of my biggest lessons in life.

I laid in bed with 3 of my best mates from camp and heard the most simple, yet most mind-blowing words spoken of all time.

We were watching a podcast from the well-known preacher Francis Chan about Love.

Chan challenged us first with the question, do you really believe that God loves you?

Do you?

Do you really believe that God loves you?

Chan went on to say that if we truly believed that God loved us we wouldn’t worry about all the ‘external stuff.’

All the worries that the world throws at us like having to fit, financial security, our health, friendships, relationships, family, appearance, acceptance.

If we truly believed that God loved us we would then understand his incredible love for and we would realise that we do not need anything else to live but the Grace and Love of God.

Chan then went on to ask “what is God’s love for Jesus, his own son like?”

Think about it.

The creator who created love.

His love, for his own son.

Chan described it as a perfect love.

Perfect.

No flaws, no doubts, no trust issues, no insecurities.

Perfect.

And then it hit us.

Chan read this verse about Jesus teaching about God’s love for us all, which I will never forget.

John 15.9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

Just like God’s perfect love for his son Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ has that perfect love for you and me.

Let me read you the verse again, John 15.9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

In this world, in my life, in your life, a hopeless place, Jesus Christ has a perfect love for you and me.

Love, which has no boundaries, which has no limits, which has no end.

A perfect love.

A love which is best described by the song I sang at church tonight, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

In the worst situation.

When you are most alone.

At the darkest depths.

And the end.

In a hopeless place.

Jesus loves you.

Not just any old love, he loves you just as the father loves him, perfect love.

Throughout the bible there are endless examples of love in a hopeless place, take Jesus showing compassion and forgiveness to the adulterous women, take Jesus healing the blind man, healing the ten lepers, healing the paralysed man, but most of all take the cross.

The most wicked, painful, destructive death for any human being to suffer.

A punishment deemed only fit for criminals.

A death with the sole aim of pain.

Jesus hanging on that cross could easily be viewed as a place of pain, suffering, sorrow.

A hopeless place.

However the crucifixion is the most stand out example of love in a hopeless place of all time.

Jesus Christ died on that cross for you and me.

He took all the sin of you, of me, of the whole world onto his shoulders and died a painful worldly death to take that pain away from you and me so that we may be free from the clutches of sin and that we may have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to spend eternity with him Heaven.

Jesus Christ took the most hopeless place, and showed the most incredible, incomparable, inconceivable love.

Through his actions he declares that he wants a personal relationship with you and me and through this incredible love he deserves our lives to be laid down for him to be used to show and witness his incredible love for the rest of the hopeless place that we call the world to see.

Jesus Christ doesn’t just find love in a hopeless place.

Jesus Christ is love in a hopeless place.

Advertisement