Consuming Love

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, It would be utterly scorned" (SONG of SONGS 8:6-7, NIV).

These magnificent allegorical verses from the biblical text "Song of Songs", also called "Song of Solomon", beautifully illustrate what consuming love is all about. The bride, known as the beloved, is the orator in this eloquent passage. She is often seen as typifying the bride of Christ, consisting of true believers who constitute His church, while Christ Jesus is symbolized by the bridegroom, to whom this dialogue is directed. "Place me like a seal over your heart"; the beloved desires to be set apart as the bridegroom's unrivaled and preeminent object of love. "For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave"; this consuming love and passionate desire for the bridegroom is so strong that the beloved would deny herself completely for the sake of the object of her love, even to the point of death, if necessary. The beloved would, also, be extremely jealous and even hate any intrusion that would seek to impair or destroy that fervent love relationship. In a like manor, shouldn't we, who are the bride of Christ, as His church, hate sin and anything that would encroach upon our intimacy and loving communion with our precious and sovereign Holy Lord? "It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love: rivers cannot wash it away"; love, when it is ignited, is like a burning fire in our hearts. We become consumed with thoughts of the one we love. Our entire life begins to revolve around that object of our love, adoration and affection. Nothing in this world can extinguish a love that burns so fiercely- a love that consumes like raging fire! Even torrents of trials and tribulations, like rivers of flooding waters, cannot wash away consuming love. "If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, It would be utterly scorned"; no amount of money nor worldly goods, no fame nor honored position, nor anything that this world has to offer can transcend the power of one possessed by such an all consuming love. Consuming love cannot be purchased by worldly wealth. Material wealth and worldly gain quickly grow pale in the light of the unspeakable joy and wondrous splendor of genuinely experiencing an all consuming love.

The bride in the "Song of Songs" was deeply and fervently in love with the bridegroom. Are we so ardently in love with Christ? Some of those mentioned in the bible loved Jesus with such total abandonment that when He greeted them for the first time after His resurrection, ".....they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him" (MATT 28:9, NAS). The great Apostle Paul, as noted in scripture, proved that he was willing and ".....ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (ACTS 21:13, NAS). Job esteemed and treasured the words of God more than his "necessary food" (JOB 23:12, NAS). It would take countless volumes to mention all the precious people who have lived devoted lives and died sacrificially for the love of God throughout history. However, the supreme sacrifice and most inimitable expression of consuming love ever known to man remains to be that of Christ Jesus, the King of all creation, when He stooped down to earth from His glorious home in the heavens and gave His perfect life as a sacrifice for us who were sinking in the seas of our sinful natures, so that we might be reconciled to God through His life and blood atonement for our sins (COL 1:15-20).

Have we genuinely understood the immeasurable gift of His divine love and costly salvation? Have we responded to His consuming love by surrendering our lives totally to His Lordship, so full of grace and mercy? In the biblical book of "Luke" (LUKE 7:36-48), we're given a moving account of a harlot who had lived a sinful life, yet sought the love, mercy and forgiveness of God. She poured perfume on the feet of Jesus and washed His feet with her tears of repentance. She then proceeded to wipe His feet dry with her hair as an act of adoration, gratitude and worship for this One she vehemently loved. Jesus was well aware of her sinful condition, but with His infinite love and compassionate mercy responded: "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little" (LUKE 7:47 NAS). This is the marvelous glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is still available and merciful to all who will seek Him and call upon Him out of a heart of contrition, that is, with a heart full of earnest repentance. (PSALM 51:17).

It is my heartfelt desire that the music, lyrics, and additional scriptural references for each song in this CONSUMING LOVE musical project will sincerely bless you, and inspire you to seek God with your whole heart in order that you may experience the fullness of the joy of His salvation. "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me" (PROV 8:17, NAS). You can earnestly "`seek, and you shall find'" Him (MATT 7:7-8, NAS). If you find Him, you can know Him. If you hold to His teaching and become a true disciple of JESUS CHRIST, "`Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free'" (JOHN 8:31-32, NIV). To really know Him is to love Him with a consuming love.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through JESUS CHRIST--TO THE GLORY AND PRAISE OF GOD" (PHIL 1:9-11, NIV).

In CHRIST'S Love and Service, MICKEY CRANK