The heart of it...

What is the biggest cry of our hearts? What is our greatest desire? What do we want most in life? I don't simply mean, we want something nice to eat at the end of the day, or someone to value us. I mean what is at the core of our being, what are most films about, what was valentines day all about, what are they fairytales all about that you read as a little child - love! We all long to be unconditionally loved, to be told I love you, not because your good at something or because you have behaved well (we know we all haven't done that) but to be loved just for simply being us, warts 'an all.
Most religions say the only way you are going to get right with your creator is by behaving well, following a set of rules. This then gives rise to pride, I am better than everyone else because I am sooo good or rise to guilt, I am soooo bad I am never going to make it.
Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Turn to me and I love you so much I was willing to die for you. I know all of your sins. He spoke to a woman who had 5 husbands and had lived as an outcast, she acknowledged her sin and he welcomed her. Prostitutes came to him, tax collectors real scum of the society back then. Why did they come, the came because they knew they had screwed things up, they weren't proud. They came and he set them free from being a slave to prostitution, this grace so overwhelms people that their lives completely change. God has graciously shown me his love.
There is a story in the bible about two sons, one of them asks his father for his inheritance early. Basically Dad, I want you dead all I want is your money. He goes off with his fortune and squnaders it all on drink, women, fun and all that jazz. After a while he runs out of money and is desperate, he ends up living it rough until he decides to go back home and at least see if his Dad will give him a job somewhere. He knows he has to go back grovelling, he is going to have to work hard to make this right even if his father will talk to him. We then get this scene where the Dad is sitting out front of the house (paraphrased) and sees this figure a far off, he runs to greet him, he is overjoyed, there are tears rolling down his face, he is consumed with love for this lost son. They meet and he embraces him, he instructs the workers to get the best calf for a party, to give his son the best robe.
Now did he deserve that treatment, not at all. However the Fathers love is the centre piece of the story not whether or not he deserved it. The father is obviously God.
There was also another son in the story and he was fuming that the son should get all this treatment, but I have kept all the rules, I have been good. The son missed the point, the father loved him too but not because he kept any rules, because he was his son.
You cannot earn God's love. It is a gift, pure grace, underserved, all he asks is will you come to him.