The deepest, purest love…

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. (Song of Solomon 1:2–4)

While the debates continue, this book of the OT endures as part of God's Word to His people. Whatever He intends, it seems obvious that this describes the love relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people by comparing it to human love and intimacy. It is not for those who take their faith as mere personal belief, but as a close relationship like that of lovers.

“Therefore virgins love you” suggest this is about ‘one and only’ love. There is nothing or no one else so important and vital to the life of those beloved by Him. He brings us close to Him and gives us every reason to have a deep response to Him. This attitude goes beyond that ‘honeymoon’ phase that is soon challenged by trials and doubts. Jesus is the preoccupation of a loved one’s heart.

One Christian course has the line; “He grows sweeter and sweeter as the days go by” suggesting that not only faith increases through testing and hardship, but so does affection. At my age, it reminds me of the emotions of trust and joy that go with loving and being loved by my spouse. It takes time to become deep, solid, and at the same time comfortable and accepting, without selfish demands and without room for doubt and suspicions.

When I think how much God loves me in these terms, I sometimes find my mind dancing with Jesus in a field of flowers, laughing in the purest of joy. Not often. Life can be not only distracting but seem cruel with all sorts of events and issues that try to convince me that I’m alone, defeated, not loved at all — but He isn’t like that and pulls me back, sometimes with little hints and clues, and sometimes with gifts of great surprise. And my heart is blessed.

Lord Jesus, it is right to love You and to be loved by You. In this world gone wrong, Your love is the anchor, the stronghold in the storms of uncertainty and unkind people who whine about being loveless without realizing that Your great love is the only reason they are allowed to live and breathe. Deepen this in our relationship. And enable me to share it with the host of love-starved people around me.

Exchanging the lie for The Truth . . .

In the beginning, God put the first human beings in a lovely garden and provided everything they needed. Along came a serpent and convinced them that God really didn’t want the best for them because He had forbidden the fruit of one tree. At that, as Romans 1:25 says, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. Ever since we easily fall for that lie — God does not love us resulting in our worship of everything but our Creator, missing the blessing of knowing His love.

The book of Ephesians, another of Paul’s letters written from prison, begins with a long description that confronts that lie. The words seem to flow out of his pen like water bubbling up from a spring, like the warbling of a songbird. Each phrase is a profound message about the love of God:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3–14)

In this passage, God affirms that His love is demonstrated in Jesus Christ. He sent His Son to confront and destroy the lie and the liar and prove the truth — He loves us far more than our doubting hearts can ever imagine.

As I read and reread His words, my heart is overwhelmed. I feel unable to grasp the wonder of it and the implication of words like: every spiritual blessing, chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him, adopted to Himself, blessed in the Beloved, redeemed, forgiven, grace lavished!

Think of it; God opened my ears to hear the word of truth, to make known to me the mystery of His will. I have inherited all that is His in Christ. I am sealed, guaranteed that inheritance until I possess it. This is the love of God. How dare the devil try to tell me that God does not love me!

Yet he does feed me that lie and sometime succeeds in convincing me. He works hard to get me to use my eyes so what I see in the world becomes the criteria for evaluating God’s love — instead of reading and listening to His Word, instead of remembering one of the huge reasons why Jesus came:

 . . . The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

The work of Satan is to turn people from truth and believe his lies. Jesus defeated him on our behalf and through Him, I share that victory — yet I need to remember what I have in Him and live by it. I need to read, memorize, meditate on and live by the promises of God, promises like this one:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

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Lord Jesus, I know that walking by the Spirit involves confessing known sin, asking You to fill me, being obedient as You lead me, and seeing with my ears without letting my eyes lead me away from the Word of God. I am so thankful for the truth You reveal and the joy You give as You teach me just how much You love me. Today, fill my heart with the reality of Your love and awareness of how You have shown that love to me and to Your people.

Today’s thankful list . . .

Deep joy in knowing I am eternally loved by God.

The beauty of creation — God, You did it well!

Safety on our long drive today.

Home, sweet home.

Crawling into our own bed.

A good, good Father

Now and then I find myself singing a chorus with the lines, “You are a good, good Father, that’s who You are . . . and I’m loved by You, that’s who I am.” These words are the nutshell version of my relationship with Almighty God and they always fill my heart with comfort and joy. God is my Father . . .

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4–7)

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15)

Unlike many others, I’ve very little struggle with that father-child relationship. My human father was a good man, full of fun and yet a hard worker who took care of his children. We had nothing to fear from him. In fact, I never saw or heard him and my mother argue about anything. Our home was a safe place to the point that when I moved out on my own, I was shocked by a very different world.

Tozer says that Jesus is unchanging. He is never far away and unavailable, but close at hand and a living force in our lives, the Holy Spirit of God fulfilling His promises moment by moment. Tozer noted that we know this by faith, but I am happy that God gave me a good example in my dad so that I’ve known the love of a father in my experience.

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Today is my parent’s wedding anniversary. Had they lived, it would have been eighty years. I look fondly at their wedding picture and smile at the many happy memories of growing up in their care, memories that help me have a trusting relationship with my heavenly Father. Thank You Jesus for giving me the blessing of a good, good father who loved me and the remarkable and awesome blessing of knowing that You also are good, good — loving me even more . . . because that is who You are.

Loving like God loves

Often read at weddings and often called the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13 is both joyful and sobering. Who can love like this without the Holy Spirit of God filling their heart with it?

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8)

The ’everlasting’ part touches me today. This says love will outlive all declarations about God, all spiritual gifts, all understanding and knowledge. I cannot imagine the world without those three — yet even when they are obsolete, love remains.

A few verses later, a greater statement is made . . .

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Think of eternity in these terms. Nothing else will be needed but love. Why is that? It strikes me that faith is about trusting Christ, but also about me. Hope is about the assurance of God for my future, but also about me.

Love is different; it is not about me. Yes, God loves me, but because the Holy Spirit pours it in me so it can be poured out, His love gives me concern for others, just as His heart is about others.

Faith and hope will be realized — what I believe and hope for will become a reality. However, the endless, everlasting love of God is always real and will never pass away or become completely fulfilled. His love is without boundaries, without beginning or end, without total fulfilment in that it is never done. It will never waver like faith does, never be uncertain like hope is, but always shining and poured out from a God whose love cannot fade or be used up.

Tozer says that my love for God should include reverence without levity or a careless familiarity. While I agree, I know that God’s love for me often chuckles just as His humor shows in creation with the crafting of some of the silliest of animals and their habits.

However, there is a reason I should never consider God lightly. Loving Him produces great conviction of my own unworthiness. God has no reason to love me except love is who He is. Faith is about me trusting Him. Hope is about me putting my expectations in His promises. But love begins with God.

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins . . . We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:10, 19)

Unless I realize that He loves me, unless I know Him, I cannot love Him or anyone else with that endless and abiding love. Instead, my ‘love’ will be based on the performance of others, not like God’s love that is based on who He is apart from any deservedness in us.

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Jesus, to love as You love I need the Holy Spirit and the willingness to admit that I cannot do it without You. I also need to remember and fully embrace the fact that You love me, regardless of who I am and what I do. This is who You are. I also need You to keep me aware that Satan’s biggest lie remains ‘God does not love you’ and not let this enemy bring doubt or forgetfulness into my mind. Thank You for Your grace and for holding me in Your care.