I was going to start out the blog with all my mission trip experiences that I've ever had that had changed my life, but now I find myself on my knees smiling and crying and needing to tell the world.
You hear the phrase "God loves you" so much that we rarely stop, truly stop, and think about what it means. What does love mean? When you love someone, what do you do? I'm not talking about the friendship love either, although God is that to us, too. I'm talking about the marital, romantic love.
God, Christ, is described as our bridegroom and that we should be ready for when He comes. God longs for us; He yearns and desires to be one with us, for us to let him in. He longs for us in a similar way that men and women desire their spouses. Even is a demonstration of God’s love for us. It is a beautiful gift from God (one that I have never experienced, though) that makes two people one flesh. It is metaphorical for the passion and pleasure we will have when we can completely let God into our hearts in heaven - free of worry and pain and sin and everything that keeps us from God.
God finds us beautiful, too. He designed us and said that His work was "very good." And we have supernatural abilities that He gave to us as well. He made us in His image. We can love and invent and think, a characteristic different from anything else on this planet. He gave us that, and He finds that beautiful as well. He loves each of us. He corrects when He sees that something inside is hurting us and therefore hurting the relationship with Him. I always imagine God sad when he has to teach us a lesson when we do not acknowledge, or even turn away from His gentle nudging at our hearts.
So, today, I read Song of Solomon. I had heard that this book was supposed to be a metaphor of Christ's love for the Church from a lot of people, but I never really got it. I actually thought that it might just be one of those religious theories that tried to explain the presence of sex and pleasure and everything in the Bible. I've found out recently that I hope it isn't just a scheme. I would love a love like that from God! I want passion in a relationship, and He does, too.
Jesus Christ asks big things of people when they want to follow Him. He says to give up possessions. To deny yourself and follow Him. These things only a person completely in love would do. Just as you would dream for someone to love you so much as to give away everything for you, so God desires you. God gave His Son for you. He watched as they beat Him to a pulp and pulled off His beard and drove nails into His hands, and God did not relieve Him of this burden because He knew that it would help Him be closer to you.
By giving His Son, He now has an ultimate relationship with you. No longer is He just with you, He is in you, if you believe what He did for you. We are no longer blocked by sin, and He can come into us. We have God inside us, the Holy Spirit - supernatural power inside of us! If only we can cleanse our hearts of everything that keeps Him out, what pure joy that would be! I can’t wait for the day when we are in heaven and these things that hinder our relationship with God are no more.
I want the passion of a lover, the closeness of a best friend, the protection of a father, and the infallibility of God. And He is all of that. I am so thankful that I have Him and can live at peace knowing that He loves me and wants the best for me. To know that everything, good or bad, happens for a reason is so reassuring. Our reactions to these trials can either bring us closer to God, which is what He wants, or it can drag us down and away.
I just wanted to write this for those struggling or those seeking love. I want you to know that God loves you. Really loves you.
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