Parental Warning – Explicit Material
No, really…this one is at least PG-13, maybe even R.
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you! Take me away with you – let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.” Song of Songs 1:2-4
“Egadz! Cover your virgin ears…get the kids out of the room. What an outrage! It’s scandalous! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
Consider for one moment what would happen if some goatee sportin’, gauge wearin’, tat displayin’ emergent church type described a relationship with Christ like this from the pulpit. What if an otherwise demur young lady described her desire for God, in terms of the latest, hottest “Bond-girl” anxious to “bed” the super-stud “Bond, James Bond.”
Who among us would ever describe our longing for God’s presence like a hot, steamy foreign film; a scene between two breathless, passionate newlywed lovers that are so anxious to experience the ecstasy of union that the open-mouth, tongue probing kissing starts in the elevator…continues with the disrobing just outside the wedding suite doors and climaxes with…my, it’s getting warm in here.
Or, how about Jesus describing His church like a pin-up girl, keeping a poster of us up on His wall like a the ubiquitous “Farrah” placard of the seventies? Only, He really does have a mad, passionate (appropriate) relationship with a really hot babe…His church (His bride).
Let’s be honest, this type of thinking isn’t just remote to most Christian’s thinking, it’s revolting. Most of us find it an anathema and repugnant. No proper follower of King of kings would ever allow this thought to fly over our head, let alone build its nest in our hair (sorry, Martin).
Disclaimer: I’m not necessarily advocating that we flaunt these descriptions in the public market or shout them from every pulpit. But, we also shouldn’t regard them as completely foreign to a relationship with Christ; not necessarily the graphic descriptions, but the breathless passion they engender.
After all, right there it is in scripture…right there in the Bible. A lover “resting between my breasts” (1:13); “no wonder the maidens love you” (1:3); “my heart began to pound for him” 5:4).
Rather passionate and seductive, wouldn’t you say? Kind of takes your breath away if you let your imagination run with it a while, doesn’t it? And, I’ve left out the really graphic stuff.
But, that’s my point. When was the last time the thought of Jesus took your breath away? When was the last time you had a “crush” on Him? Do you let Him seduce you? Do your knees go weak when you think of Him?
It’s much safer for us to think of our relationship with Christ in business terms. Business contracts don’t make us blush. Corporate mergers don’t take our breath away, they let us stay dignified. They’re measured, thoughtful and considered…and certainly don’t make us weak in the knees.
Mad, passionate love affairs are undignified; drive us to act like fools; consume our every waking moment; overwhelm us to extravagance. Would anyone ever describe our relationship with Jesus using the words undignified or extravagant?
My daughter, Abbie, has some great quotes on her computer desktop that I think Solomon would have appreciated. I hope they describe my foolish, and completely appropriate, passion for Jesus.
“Love: a wildly misunderstood, although highly desirable, malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes the eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker.”
When do I blush at the thought of Jesus?
“To him she seemed so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else’s heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.”
Is our infatuation with Jesus so strong that we don’t understand why everyone else’s heart isn’t wild for Him? Why aren’t we so mesmerized with Him that we’re afraid to approach Him? But, knowing that to approach Him only makes the spell stronger.
“Love is when the woman (or man) of your dreams becomes a reality and sleep stops being a priority.”
Do you ever stay up all night just to be with Him?
“Love enables you to put your deepest feelings and fears in the palm of your lover’s hand, knowing they will be handled with care.”
Tags: bond girl, church, climax, emergent, explicit, foreign film, gauge, goatee, hot babe, james bond, maiden, newlywed, pin up girl, song of songs, virgin, wedding