It's becoming a "girlfriends" thing to do on Valentine's Weekend. "Let's check out 'Fifty Shades of Grey.'"
Opening weekend for a movie that's about a young woman becoming the object of a man's sado-masochistic sexual bondage.
It seems odd that it would be something so many women want to see. Especially when our culture has fought so passionately to elevate the dignity and worth of women.
Strangely, though, all the talk about this movie can provide an unusual opportunity for a Jesus-loving woman to tell a girlfriend about Him.
The opportunity might come with an invitation to "go see it with us." Or from the office or neighborhood "buzz" about the movie.
No, it's not time to mount the soapbox and deliver a sermon condemning the depravity of our culture.
But it is a time when a woman can share what she's found in the satisfying love of Jesus Christ. "He's let me know how loved...how valuable...how treasured I am to Him. I don't want to see anything that shows a woman as less than the masterpiece God created us to be."
The love Jesus has does not make us suffer to have a relationship with Him. He suffered - as no man has ever suffered - so so we could experience His love forever.
In the words of the Bible, "Christ suffered for our sins...He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God" (1 Peter 3:18 - NLT). He gave up everything so we could have the love we were made for. "Created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16), the Bible says.
That's why no other love is ever enough. We're created to find our worth, our fulfillment in the One who gave us our life. And who gave His life for us.
The Bible vividly describes the human heart as being "like the restless sea, which is never still...there is no peace" (Isaiah 57:20-21 - NLT). Restless because we're away from the only One who can fill the hole in our heart. No man, no woman, no relationship, no conquest - not even a religion - can fulfill our lifelong search for peace and belonging. Only Jesus can.
So when Jesus met a woman at a well one day who'd been with one guy after another, He talked about a thirst that never goes away. The alternative to "returning to the well" every day to quench a never-ending thirst.
He told her - and every woman, really - how her long search could end. "Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life" (John 4:14 - NLT). With her sins forgiven, a woman can begin her own "unloseable" love relationship with God.
So as millions of women swoon over a "bad news" movie, a Jesus-loving woman has a chance to tell the Good News about the love of a lifetime. Jesus. "Who thought you were worth dying for."