Several years ago, a slogan for a popular candy bar communicated the message that, unless you actually tasted and swallowed the candy bar, you would never know how satisfying it was.
It’s the same with Jesus’s Bridegroom love. You will never know how satisfying and intoxicating it is until you experience His exclusive love for you, His cherished bride.
“O, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps. 34:8).
One day, during a particularly sweet season of Jesus’s wooing my heart in His Bridegroom love, I was perusing the CDs of love songs at one of our local discount stores.
I enjoy listening to music to fan the flame of love in my heart for Him, so when I discovered several CDs filled with classic romantic ballads, I immediately bought them (they were cheap) and couldn’t wait to get home to start listening to them.
Well, you can imagine my disappointment as I opened each one, played it, and realized it was not done by the original singers.
It just wasn’t the same!
I wanted the real deal, and all I got was a lot of cheap substitutes.
Every kind of worldly love is a cheap substitute when compared to the unconditional, fiery love of our Spiritual Bridegroom.
Jesus is so good to use earthly examples to drive deep biblical truths in my mind.
For instance, many people today use artificial sweeteners in place of real sugar in order to cut calories but still enjoy the sweet taste.
I watched a spot on the 700 Club one day that grabbed my attention.
They were discussing different sugar substitutes, saying that even though the products may taste like sugar, your body still knows it’s not getting the real thing.
You will continue to crave real sugar even after you consume the substitutes.
I thought, It’s the same with earthly loves.
When we try to get our need for love met through any other means than a vibrant love relationship with Christ, we will always come up short.
Jesus’s Bridegroom love for us far surpasses even the beautiful committed love of married couples.
Every great love affair eventually gets past the first-love feelings of the relationship, but Jesus never gets over His lovesickness for us.
Bottom line: Christ never intended for our earthly mate to completely fulfill us. That’s something only He can do (Col. 2:10).
Jude’s epistle urges us to keep ourselves in the love of God (verse 21).
In other words, “keep the home fires burning.”
In Christ’s message given to the apostle John for the church at Ephesus, He rebukes them, saying, “You do not love me now as you did at first” (Rev. 2:4 GNT).
Then, in the next verse, he urges them to change their minds about the most important aspect of their relationship.
One translation says, “It’s time to rethink and change your ways” (Rev. 2:5 VOICE).
He’s essentially saying, “The secret to loving is living loved by Me.”
“If everything you do does not come from the foundation of My love, it means nothing.”
“It all begins with letting Me love you.”
Dear friend, are you letting Jesus love you unconditionally day in and day out?
Think about this: How can we love God, others, and ourselves authentically if we are not receiving His no-strings-attached love for us on a regular basis?
It all starts with our willingness to taste (receive, experience) His one-of-a-kind love for us.
Go ahead, taste and see for yourself how sweet it is to be loved by Him!
Today’s post is an excerpt from my first book—my six-week Bible study on the first two chapters of the Song of Songs, His Banner over Me Is Pursuing Love.
*If you enjoyed this post, then I think you would enjoy both of my books where I share the undiluted, unpolluted love and grace of God.
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