Let Him kiss me...

     

                     

                            🪷🪷🪷

                 Song of Songs1:2NLT

               Kiss me again and again, 

        for your love is sweeter than wine.   

                             🪷🪷🪷   

 

I'd made a promise on Valentine that we'd sooner or later get to discover God's love as it is in the most romantic book of the Bible. I know it all sounds crazy and this blog's title probably caught you off guard. I was surprised myself to find out that that was actually among the first statements in that book. 

In all honesty you might never have imagined that you could get anything tangible from this book. I'm here just to get us all started. This is probably one of the most complex and least understood books of the Bible. With the Holy Spirit though, we have access even to the deep things of God.

Expectedly, various bible scholars have different interpretations of it. I think the big question is whether it's meant for lovers in a marriage relationship or whether it's about Christ's love for His bride ~ the church. The former are made to look like they're being too carnally minded while the latter are seen to be over spiritualizing everything. A perfect balance between the two would be most ideal. 

Check this:

"The best way to see this book is as a literal, powerful description of the romantic and sensual love between a man and a woman, observing both their courtship and their marriage. It does not give us a smooth chronological story, beginning with the introduction of the couple to one another and ending with their married life together. Instead, it is a collection of “snapshots” of their courting and married life, with the pictures not necessarily in order.

Yet, because God deliberately uses the marriage relationship as an illustration of the relationship that He has with His people, we find that this great song of songs illustrates the love, the intensity, and the beauty of relationship that should exist between God and the believer. This is clearly a secondary meaning, sublimated to the plain literal meaning, yet nevertheless valid and important." 

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Now that I've brought you on board, I do hope that you will enjoy this journey with me. I'm going to major on Christ's love revealed (just in case you're wondering 🙂). It's been a major part of my walk with God ~ the reason I like to identify myself as Loved One. This is where it all began. I'm more than excited to tag you along with me as we dig in. 

My prayer is that this piece (and the rest in this series) will stir up your heart to the awareness of God's infinite love for you, and to challenge how you reciprocate that love. Indeed, it is true that we love God with a certain measure. We serve Him, read His Word and try to live by His principles. Question is, what is really at the root of this commitment? Are we doing it with willing and cheerful hearts, or have we submitted because we feel threatened by Him? What fuels our obedience to Him? What drives us to our knees? What makes us search the scriptures?... Is it merely because of our selfish interests? The threat of His coming wrath and judgement on the ungodly? Something to make us feel good about ourselves?... Why do we do the things that we do? 

Maybe the burnouts we often experience hint that we're missing out in this one fundamental area, and that is intimacy with God. This should be the foundation on which everything else is built, and it's why I chose to start here. Amidst the many things we may have on our bucket lists somewhere, it's my prayer that we'll have these two take first place:

~That we'd live like Christ loves us.

~That we'd live like we love Christ with all that we are.

 This is where it begins.

🍂 Let Him kiss me... 🍂

Contextually, these are the words of the young Shulamite woman to Solomon, her lover. Most bible versions simply refer to her as 'beloved'. Realize that unlike what you'd expect, she's the one extending the invitation to her lover. She knows she's already loved, but she's the one who gives the go-ahead so her lover would be free to express his love for her. 

A kiss is literally just that ~ a gesture of love. In other words, she's fully open to receive love. She longs for it. It's not something that's forced down her throat. She actually wants it. She's asking for it. Her whole being is receptive of that expression of love.

Back to you! This translates to what you've probably heard already. Check this:

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Revelation 3:20NIV 

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

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Eating and dining together are definitely other ways lovers get to show love to one another. In both verses realize that all God wants is to reveal to you just how much He loves you. He longs to pour out His love on you. Realize that whether or not this love is experienced is solely on our part. We are the ones to open up to receive Jesus. We are the ones to let Him in so He'd express His love for us. 

They say He's a gentleman. He'll never force Himself on you. He'll never force you to receive His love, though He knows how desperately you need it. It's entirely up to you to make that prayer and be open to Him--that you would know just how wide and long and high and deep Christ's love is for you. Once you taste the sweetness therein, nothing will ever be the same. You'd want more and more ~ that He'd kiss you again and again.

🍂Your love is sweeter than wine. 🍂

Wine here signifies the greatest ecstasy one can crave. The lover here makes a comparison and concludes that she didn't need anything more to make her delightful. The Lover's love was enough for her, and it was way much better than what wine or anything else for that matter could offer.

This holds so much weight. Maybe we can all confess that we may not be in a position to say the same. It may be that we don't even make time to be with He who loves us because we're so caught up in our busy schedules. It could be that though we say we love Him; we easily yield to the passions of the flesh and conform to the patterns of the world. Though we say love Him, it doesn't bite anymore when we compromise - thinking that it doesn't hurt to break the "minor" rules and commit the "lesser" sins. We fail to realize that we break His heart over and over again. 

Indeed we love Him, but have we loved Him enough to let go of everything that is not of Him? Have we loved Him enough to stop looking back at those things we once loved? Have we loved Him to the point that we are willing to suffer reproach and ridicule for His name's sake? Are we willing to appear foolish in the eyes of men in our pursuit of Him? Have we truly left everything? Have we loved Him with our whole lives, even unto death? Have you?

If the "wine" still tastes sweeter than His Love, probably the answer to all the above is a big 'No'. If we are to follow Him whole-heartedly, and to truly leave everything behind and not look back, then we have to grow and mature in Love. It's why the message in this book is not just for the one that is yet to receive Jesus, but even for the one that despite receiving Him, has not yet fully grasped His Love.

It's only one who has found this love to be better than "wine" that will gladly "leave everything and follow Christ." There's so much more to this and I'm only stirring up our hearts to desire to mature in Christ's love. It's only after we mature in Love that we can with confidence quote this portion of Scripture by Paul:

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Philippians 3:7-8NIV

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

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Service in the kingdom of God was never meant for those whose lust after the wine is greater than their pleasure in Christ's love. Rather, it's for those whose greatest pleasure and delight is to diligently love and obey Christ. Check this:

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Luke 9:61-62NIV

Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family."

Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

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When I first started learning about all this some two-three years ago it was through a book, 'The Pleasures of Loving God' by Mike Bickle. I never got to finish it, but it sure gave me such a powerful head start. I later got to study random portions of the Songs of Songs and I've learnt to live them out day by day. 

I've come across it again just recently and I'm definitely re-reading it - only this time, it'll be my pleasure to tag you along - step by step as I'm doing now.

For the introduction, here are the snippets I scribbled down. It's a perfect way to wrap this up and hope that more than anything, your heart will be stirred up to receive and give Christ's love in whatever way you can. There's no specific order...just brief but deep statements worth noting down.

~When passion is restored, the joy of "presence" returns.

   

~The Father wants a bride for His Son whose love will endure in times of testing.

~When you are in love, it's much easier to do things for the one you love.

~Spending time with Jesus isn't a big sacrifice when you feel the power of love flowing through you. In fact, it's something you want to do.

~God never designed the human race to work first and love second. Rather, Love must be front and centre in our lives.

~The Great Commission is not to be fulfilled from a sense of duty, but out of hearts burning with love for Jesus.

~God the Father wants a lovesick bride for His Son, Jesus. 

 

~He wants a church--not one that picks and chooses what characteristics of Jesus meet its fancy and which ones do not. Rather, one that loves everything about Him.

~We must love all of Him ~ His mercy as well as His judgements.

~The Father's pleasure is to see that the bride of Christ loves Jesus with a mature love.

~He wants a loving and loyal bride for His son--not one who's been threatened into submission.

~He longs for a pure love, a willing heart ~ a bride who is a lover and not just a servant.

God loves you. He deeply enjoys you. He sees you as He designed you to be - a lover of His Son, Jesus. Realizing how much God really likes you is a journey - just not a hectic one. It's inarguably the most wonderful of all - one in which you too will begin to love Him naturally.

An early Jewish commentator had this to say:

"The entire history of the world from it's beginning to this very day does not outshine that day on which this book was given to Israel. All the Scriptures, indeed, are holy...but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies."

I know it's very paradoxical, but we'll get to discover more soon. For now, open up your heart to Him. He longs to express His love for you. Let Him kiss you...not just now...but again, and again, and again. Here's how I hope this story will end for us all ~ a perfectly reciprocated love on our part:

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       "Yes! Though I love Him imperfectly, 

I love Him more than I ever imagined possible."

                              🪷🪷🪷