They called him the greatest.
I met him once. He was very involved where I went to Elementary school, and that is where I had the opportunity to challenge “The Greatest” to a fist fight. Continue reading
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I want you to want me. Daily Discipleship, Day 9: Song of Solomon 4-8
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I’d love you to love me
How many times have we heard this song? It’s catchy, and beckons is back to the days before marriage when we still put some thought into impressing our significant other (amiright?).
But seriously, I think it should speak wisdom info our married lives as well. And as I found out today, those lyrics carry a biblical message.
The song of a married couple in love
I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.
The Song of Solomon 8:10 ESV
The Song of Solomon should remind us that having someone to love and cherish is a great joy. But it’s not just that.
The verse shown above shows that these two love birds didn’t just find joy in loving the other, but they find joy in the other loving them.
I can say from experience as someone who has battled back an addiction to pornography in the power of the Holy Spirit that my wife never needed to simply love me. She needed me to love her and only her.
So let this verse be a reminder to us all: don’t stop trying to woo your spouse. She wants you to want her. Don’t stop protecting your marriage with vigilant wisdom that will keep your heart from straying away. He wants you to want him.
Joy comes when you give your whole self to the other person, and it overflows when they give their whole selves to you.
Protect that. Work at it. She (or he) needs you to need her (or him).
God Bless.
Daily Discipleship, Day 8: Song of Solomon 1-3
Who doesn’t love some good, steamy, sexually charged literature, huh?
Welcome to the Song of Solomon.
The debate has raged over the centuries about what this book symbolizes, and what he imagery represents. I am not of the opinion that it is a romantic Poem from God’s perspective to his people. Mostly because the language isn’t just lovey-dovey; it’s downright spicy!
No, the Song of Solomon is a story of committed and faithful love between Solomon and (presumably) his first wife. He started put so well…
And so in the first three chapters I saw this verse, repeated twice verbatim:
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
The Song of Solomon 2:7 ESV
Awakening love
So here, in this book all about the joy of love (and love-making), Solomon’s bride implores other women to not “awaken love before the time is right” (NLT).
It seems everything in our culture wants to “awaken love.” From earlier and eaier ages, kids are being taught about sexuakity in schools, and being exposed to alluring material.
Even for adults, the waters can be tough to navigate with the proliferation of portable pornography, the crazy successes of franchises like 50 Shades of Gray, and numerous magazines like Maxim and Cosmo, which seem to focus only on sex.
People who strive to “not awaken love” are certainly swimming upstream against the forces of culture.
Yet here, Solomon’s bride relishes in the fact that “I am my beloved’s and he is mine” (2:16). The joy can be seen through the book, and it is mutually experienxed from him and her.
Give it time, and those who call you crazy for your otments to protecting your heart will be tje ones who have had the worse relationships and the most regrets.
Do not awaken love until the time is appropriate, and then let loose and you’ll really be able to enjoy it.
God bless!
This post is meaningless! Daily Discipleship Weekend Podcast
This weekend, I thought I would shake things up. Here is a brief message (audio only) of what I learned as I walked through Ecclesiastes the last three days.
Enjoy.
This post is part of a series called “Daily Discipleship: One year (or less) through the Bible.” For the previous post, click here, and for the whole project in one place, click here.
Daily Discipleship, Day 4: Acts 24-28
Who doesn’t love book ends?
Bookends are great, and make awesome decorative accents.
Whether they are bookends designed to look like books, or like the “B” bookends my wife and I had for years because that’s our last initial, bookends always come in pairs.
Literary bookends are the same way. They frame what lies between as a clue to the reader what takeaways are important. Continue reading
Daily Discipleship, Day 2: Acts 16-19
This is day 2 of my one year (or less) journey through Scripture. I decided to start where I was (right smack-dab in the middle of acts). Read the first post here, and come along on the journey with me.
What becoming a Christian looks like
What I’m going to say today will likely make some people upset. Continue reading
Daily Discipleship: One year (or less) through the Bible: Day 1, Acts 13-15
“I’m not you!”
This was what a pastor told me he told a mentor of his recently. The mentor in question is a retired professor and preacher, who regularly reads through the Bible 12-13 times a year. That’s right, once a month or so. Continue reading
Heaven IS For Real! (but not because a Toddler says so!)
With the release of a movie recently, many, many people are talking about Heaven. That’s a good thing, right?
Maybe.
Heaven Is For Real, a movie produced by mega-church pastor TD Jakes, and a book about a 4-year-old view who allegedly “visited Heaven” when he died on an operating table, has taken the nation by storm. Over and over, I have the same conversation. Someone will know that I’m a pastor and so must LOVE this enterprise, says, “I saw Heaven Is For Real last night. SUCH a good movie! I totally believe it!”
Then my face, which I imagine looks a bit like a boy being pinned down by his older sister and her friends for a “makeover,” launches us into a different discussion. Continue reading
Your Stumbling Block is a Stumbling Block For Me
13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” -Romans 14:13, ESV
I have a tattoo.
I said it. Now it’s out there.
Poolside Purity & Bikini Battles
Here we go again. It’s summer time, which means at any given time, in any number of churches nationwide, pastors, youth pastors and leaders are giving their kids (read: their female students) the “one-piece” talk.
A few years back at our church, some students actually petitioned our pastor to include Tankinis. It was a big win for preteens everywhere. I imagine they sat by the pool that summer in their tankinis and drank virgin daiquiris to celebrate. Continue reading
