Romance. We are consumed with it. From our childhood we love the stories of a
handsome prince coming to save a maiden from some sort of evil. Cinderella is rescued from a life of menial
labor for her step-mother and step-sisters, and marries the Prince. Sleeping Beauty is set free from her sleep of
death by Prince Charming. Little girls dream of their wedding day. Little boys probably don’t think too much
about their wedding day, but by the time that little boy grows up and is
waiting for his bride to come down the aisle, he has been converted to romance.
As
we get older, stories that are not specifically love stories, such as the Lord
of the Rings, would be flat and empty without the romance. Something within us is captivated by the love
between Arwen and Aragorn. The story is
wrought with danger, sacrifice, and pure love. And it ends with a “happily ever
after.” We crave romance.
According
to Michael Norris in Business Consumer
Book Publishing 2011, romance fiction dominates the consumer market at
13.4% (in terms of revenue of market categories), beating out mystery, science
fiction/fantasy, and religion/inspirational titles. In 2010, consumers spent $1.358 billion on
romance fiction. These statistics show that we are drawn to Romance.
Why? Because God made us for romance. Although romance between a couple is
wonderful, fulfilling, special, and very intimate. That human romance is only an
image, a pale reflection of the True Romance for which we were created.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery – but I am talking
about Christ and the church. (Eph 5:31)
Did you catch that? Marriage is a description of the relationship
between Christ and His church! Not the
other way around. Marriage is the best
description that Paul could find to describe the intense emotion and dare I say
the romance, between Jesus and His Church (that is you and me)! In Revelation 19:7-9 all of Heaven celebrates the wedding of Christ with His Bride. In Isaiah 62 below,
the language of marriage and romance is again used to describe how God feels
about us.
Because God delights in you, your land will be like a
wedding celebration.
For as a young man marries his virgin bride, so your builder marries you,
For as a young man marries his virgin bride, so your builder marries you,
And as a bridegroom is happy in his bride, so your God is
happy with you.
(Isaiah 62:4b-5 The Message)
God is
romantically pursuing you! Think of that with every sunrise or sunset,
with the fresh blooming flowers of springtime, with the sound of beautiful
music, with the tastes of the most succulent dessert, with the joy of laughter. God made all of that and so much more, to show
us that He loves us with a passion bigger than the universe. How does that make you feel? It gives me shivers of joy down my spine!
Please share with me
and others your thoughts about this
incredible love our
Maker has for each one of us.
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