On a Tuesday morning, are you talking with more excitement about what happened on The Bachelor than about the ways God is meeting you in the midst of what’s happening around you? If you have more confidence naming the contestants than believing the names God calls you, here’s what I want to remind you of:

In John 4, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well and spoke to her full of truth and full of grace. He told her who she was, what she had done, and that he loved her in the midst of it. After she realized Jesus was the Messiah, she left her water jar and ran and yelled come and see this man who told me everything I’ve ever done and loves me anyway!

He loves you anyway!

School and work and stress make it easy to forget about the first time Jesus felt personal and real and close. Or maybe you’re not sure he ever did. It’s too easy, I know, I’m with you, and I’m sorry. But I’m afraid that when we forget how we felt the first time Jesus met us, we become numb to the Word of God and to what he’s doing in our life. I’m afraid that our forgetfulness leads to a reality TV show becoming our entertainment and finding a rose ceremony more exciting than the fact that Jesus knows everything we’ve ever done and loves us anyway.

When we encounter the real full-of-grace and full-of-truth Jesus, we’ll know. We’ll talk with more excitement about what he’s up to than what’s happening on The Bachelor. We’ll long for what he’ll do with more expectancy than we gossip and guess who will get the final rose. When we realize what the Samaritan woman realized— that Jesus knew everything she ever did and loved her anyway— we’ll leave our water jars and tell anyone who will listen. We will never be the same.

Because that kind of love changes us. That kind of love can’t keep quiet.

There’s no shame here if you watch The Bachelor or if it’s easier for you to talk about TV shows than how God is meeting you in your midst. I only want to get you thinking. Plus, if you’re like me, your mind is weak and needs reminders. So here it is for both of us: God is faithful, Jesus is personal, the Word is still relevant. Jesus Messiah knows everything you’ve ever done and loves you anyway. He lived and died and lived again to get you back.

Now that’s something to gossip about.