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 blazing fire, like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
I could take this in a variety of directions but I think where I want to go with is with the strength of love. God created love to be strong because He knew that this life would try to do whatever it could to squelch it. So how strong is love? It is as strong as death. Water cannot put it out. This is the imagery that I've been caught up in; that love is as strong as a fire and that it cannot be put out.
One of my favorite stories is Elijah on the mountaintop showing the power of God (I Kings 18). He continually drenches an altar with water till it is filled to overflowing. Then Elijah prays and God sends down a fire that devours the sacrifice, the altar and even the stones. Even the water was unable to stop it.
The third Scripture that has been brought to my mind when thinking about the power of love is 1 Peter 4:8 "Love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
So here is the picture I have from tying all 3 of these Scriptures together. If you've been in a marriage or any sort of relationship you have seen what time and life can do to it. If you don't put 1 Corinthians 13 into practice very well that love may seem to die down and maybe in your mind not even exist anymore. But I believe that the power of love is stronger than what the weeks, months and years can do to try and destroy love. There is an unquenchable power behind it. Like Elijah, we can pray and ask God to send His fire upon our altars (perhaps where the flame of love no longer seems to exist). When God sends His all consuming fire it burns up everything even the stones (the things that we think will always be and can never be moved).
What is the result of a fire? Ashes. What then is God's promise to us? Isaiah 61:3 I will bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.
If you think a love has died in your life ~ it hasn't. Invite our All Consuming God to send His fire down. Let the power of His love and what Jesus did burn up the stones of what has been built over the years and then let Him take the ashes and turn them into a thing of beauty.
No comments:
Post a Comment