How Can I Give Up On You?

I once read about a woman with twin sons who could not have been more different. One thrived — Eagle Scout, student council president, college, law school. The other struggled from the beginning — in trouble constantly, in and out of the principal's office, eventually arrested on a felony charge.

By a strange coincidence, the day one son was to receive his diploma was the same day the other son was to receive his sentence.

The mother went to the graduation. She watched her son cross the stage. She was proud. But her heart was somewhere else entirely — in a courtroom across town, grieving for the son who couldn't stay out of trouble.

Does a mother forget one son because of what he has done? Does she simply stop loving him?

The answer, of course, is no. Love doesn't work that way.

God speaks through the prophet Hosea with words that sound exactly like that mother: "How can I give up on you? My heart recoils at such a thing. My compassion grows warm and tender."

This is the God we worship. Not a God who writes off the ones who have wandered or failed or gone their own way. But a God whose heart is in two places at once — rejoicing over what is flourishing, and grieving over what is lost. Still holding on. Still calling.

If you have wondered whether you have gone too far — whether God has finally given up — the answer from Hosea is clear. He hasn't. He can't.

Prayer: O God, we thank you that your love does not give up. For the times we have wandered, for the failures we carry, for the distance we have put between us — your heart is still toward us. How can you give up on us? You can't. And for that we give thanks. Amen.

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