Another sad story from the "entertainment capital of the world." There's a lot of it behind all the Hollywood hype.
The sadness behind the stardom hit me again when I read about what just happened to a woman who has been, at times, the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She's been married to two of Hollywood's biggest actors and a cover girl on national magazines.
But this week 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 reveal the hurting heart behind the glamour. "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 I'm not worthy of being loved. That there's something fundamentally wrong with me." And sadly, a lot of us non-celebrity types hear those words and think, "I know the feeling."
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 there's "something wrong with me." We know the ugliness behind our smiling façade. I know all too well the things about me that are anything but loveable.
But 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 a safe harbor. Unconditional. Unloseable.
God doesn't care how unloveable we are. 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" (Romans 5:8 - NLT).
God initiated the greatest act of love in the history of the 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, defying the One who runs the universe by refusing to let Him run me. According to the Bible, we're all rebels - pushing God to the margins, dissing His laws, acting like we're God. And breaking the heart of God.
But still He loves us. He offered up His Son to do the dying for my rebellion. "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 loveableness. A love like no other.
And since it's all about Him and not 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, "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.
Oh, the mistakes we make, the hurt we experience looking for this love anywhere else. The little kids, singing their little church song, "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 His welcoming arms.
If you want to begin this amazing love-relationship with Jesus - or just know more about what He can do for you, I encourage you to visit YoursForLife.net today.