Another sad story from the "entertainment capital of the world." A lot of that goes on behind all the Hollywood hype.
The sadness behind the stardom hit me again when I read about something that happened to a woman who at times, has been the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. She's been married to two of Hollywood's biggest actors; she's been a cover girl on national magazines. And then she was the subject of a friend's urgent 911 call. She was rushed to the hospital for her reaction to the dangerous drugs she was using.
Her own words in a recent interview I think reveal the hurting heart behind the glamor. She said, "What scares me is that I'm going to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I'm really not loveable; that there's something fundamentally wrong with me." I thought, sadly, a lot of us non-celebrity types hear those words and think, "I know the feeling."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Feeling Unlovable."
We've all had disappointing relationships - people who've made us feel like we weren't "worth loving." Experiences that have caused us to conclude that there's "something wrong with me." We know the ugliness behind our smiling facade. I know all too well the things about me that are anything but loveable.
We're made to be loved. Literally, made by God to be loved. Loved by Him. Love with two words attached that give our lonely hearts one safe harbor - unconditional, and unloseable.
His love isn't "I love you if..." or "I love you because..." It's just, "I love you." His love for me is all about Him and nothing about me. How do I know? Because He says in His Book, "God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners." That's our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 5:8.
God initiated the greatest act of love in the history of this planet when He sent His Son to die an unspeakable death on a cross. Not because I was so loveable, but because I was so lost. I'm a rebel against God. I defy the One who runs the universe by refusing to let Him run me. According to the Bible, we're all rebels, dissing His laws, acting like we're God, breaking the heart of God.
But still He loves us. He offered up His Son to do the dying for my rebellion. As the Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son" (John 3:16). Love without conditions; love that has nothing to do with your performance or your lovableness. It is love like no other.
And since it's all about Him and not about you or me, it's unloseable love. If God was ever going to turn His back on me, it would have been when His Son was hanging on that cross. But He turned His back on His Son, who was carrying our sin, so He would never have to turn His back on us. So, in the Bible's words, "nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
His is the only love in the world that will never disappoint you, never divorce you, never die on you. It's a love that you can finally begin to experience for yourself if you will respond to that love and say, "Jesus, nobody loves me like You do. You died on that cross for me. You're powerful enough to walk out of Your grave and into my life, and I want You to do that today. I am Yours starting today."
At our website I've tried to lay out there as simply and briefly as I could how to be sure you know Jesus. Let me urge you to go there today. That website is ANewStory.com.
I think of the mistakes we make and the hurt we experience looking for this love anywhere else. The little kids singing their little church song, they "get" it: "Jesus loves me, this I know." You know that when you finally open your heart to His love. And your lifetime search for love ends in the welcoming arms of Jesus.