So its been a couple of months since my last post. My sincere
apologies. Quite a lot has been happening around me that actually directed my
attention away from blogging. That notwithstanding, I am back…and endeavor to
be more frequent with my writings.
Now that I’ve
got that out of the way….let’s get into the essence of this piece. I’ll be
talking about love...again! Valentine’s Day may be long gone from here, but real love, I believe, is not a seasonal, once-a-year gig where you spoil someone with goodies and gifts to prove you care. I am not in any way discouraging people from observing the day…I’m simply imploring us to go beneath the surface. However, let me not digress here.
I’ve been thinking deeply about the subject matter, ever since I heard a particular sermon in church about a couple of weeks ago, when a passage of Scripture was read which cut right through me. I’d actually read this scripture in the past, but it didn’t resonate much then, the way it did this time around.
The scripture taken from Songs
of Solomon 8:6-7 states: “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is
as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are
flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot
quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love, all
the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.”
Songs of Solomon is one of those books
in the Bible I’m pretty sure most people rarely ever read. But I recently got a
revelation that it is actually the best place in the Bible for one to get
truths about what love is and should be.
Verse 6 of this scripture states: “for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as
the grave.” Love is powerful, and is as powerful as death is. The force of love
is as strong as that of death. When love takes hold of you, it never lets you
go. It goes on to say: “many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods
drown it.” What does all this mean? The flames of love are all-consuming, yet love itself cannot be consumed.
Imagine a fire that burns continually, constantly, one that can never be put
out…not even by the heaviest downpour of rain. That’s how powerful love is! It never
lets go…it never dies.
From this scripture, we see also that there is jealousy in love. Jealousy in the sense that when
you love someone, you want to guard the person, you want the person all to yourself. Love also has a lot to do with protection...not wanting any harm to come their way.
Truth, right?
Well thus far, your belief
may be that it is only the love which comes from God that this powerful and
constant and secure. Well ofcourse! There’s no greater love than the love God
has for us. He loved us so much; He came to earth as a man, suffered, and gave
up His life for us. Jesus died for us because He LOVES us. And once we become
His, He accepts us completely and truly. God is also jealous over us…and won’t
ever let the devil mess with us.
But here’s an interesting fact…when we receive
Jesus, we receive the love of God, and that love enables us to love others the
God-kind of way. So yes! If you truly have the love of God in your heart, you
should be able to love truly, wholly, and rightly.
This is powerful stuff…but it is do-able. You can have love that is as strong as death, unquenchable, consuming, accepting. Infact, this is the way real love ought to be. To further lend credence to God's definition of love, see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.In Ephesians 5:25, Paul admonishes husbands to "love their wives as Christ loved the church.” He is talking about sacrificial love… and this is the only kind of love that should exist in a marital relationship. If a man truly loves his wife, he should be able to give up anything for her without being compelled. Wives are urged to submit to their husbands…but this submission is still based on the foundation of love. If your love for him is genuine, you will submit to him, just like you submit to God in love.
A husband can live sacrificially for his wife because He has the love of God in Him. A wife can submit willfully because God’s love has been poured into her heart and soul. In love exists other things like forgiveness, protection, provision, support etc. All of these should flow naturally in a relationship where there is genuine love.
I put this piece together to urge us to meditate even more deeply on this verse of scripture, and more importantly to examine our relationships, if applicable.
The fact is
that the true meaning of love has been so perverted by the devil. This is one
of the many schemes he uses to keep people from experiencing real love in their
relationships. As children of God, we can
love the right way…and we should.
I leave you with this thought...."if you cannot give up your life for the person you love...then your love for him/her is suspect."
