Is Jesus' Love Enough for Me?
All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold. In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions follow her- those brought to be with her. Led in with joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king.
(Psalm 45: 13-15)
From the time I was a young girl, I was a hopeless romantic. I could spin it to you by saying I was just plain boy-crazy or by telling you that I possibly watched one too many Disney fairy tales along the way - but the truth of the matter is that I desperately wanted to be loved. As human beings, but women especially, we are designed to want to give and receive unconditional love. We want to be known intimately by someone who will cherish and value us for our wonderful qualities and someone who will continue loving us right through our bad ones. Unfortunately, as I got older, this aching desire I had to feel loved ended up making of fool of me more times than I care to recall. I made some incredibly unfortunate decisions that I'm not proud of today in an attempt to feel loved. After a while, I found these attempts at "love" to be quite fleeting, and I was left feeling the opposite of what I hoped for.
Eventually, I met the man who became my husband. We have a loving and happy marriage (most days, of course). Some mornings when he knows I'm extra tired, he'll sneak into our bedroom before the sun has even started to peek through my blinds, and he’ll place a giant iced coffee on my nightstand for me to wake up to. When he does this, I realize how much he truly understands me and knows just how to get to my caffeine-loving heart. But can I be honest with you? My husband is wonderful, and I am incredibly grateful for him, but he isn't the one I longed for all along. I love my husband dearly, and I know he loves me just the same. What we have and the way we love one another is better than anything I could have ever hoped for as a young girl, but he isn't the one I was searching for all along, and he would tell you that I'm not either. God gave us one another for a purpose, but we could never fulfill for one another what Jesus fulfilled for us on the cross. And we were never meant to.
I'm not sure what your love life may look like or how your heart may have been broken along the way. Maybe you're happily married, maybe you're divorced or widowed. Perhaps you were betrayed by someone you truly cared for, or maybe it wasn't a significant other at all, but a parent or family member who left you with a feeling of emptiness inside. Maybe your way of seeking love or value is different than mine was, but still, you find yourself striving in some way to gain the acceptance of others. And while you might be met with brief moments of approval, eventually, you find yourself settling for mere crumbs while all along you were grasping at a sense of significance.
The truth is that at one point or another, people are bound to hurt us and let us down, and if our souls aren't anchored in Christ above all else, it will leave us with a terrible aching space in our hearts that we might make unfortunate choices to try and fill.
Please allow yourself to sink deeply into these words, my friend. There is only one who can fill our hearts with the kind of abundant love that we search for. He says you belong to Him, and His desire is for you (Song of Solomon 7:10). He made you with unique gifts and abilities to use for His purpose (Romans 12:6). He has a plan of hope for your future (Jeremiah 29:11). He loved you so much that he sent his one and only son to die on the cross so that you could have eternal life with Him (John 3:16).
Friend, until we center our hearts on the grace and love that Jesus poured out for us upon the cross, we will always be grasping for love that is unattainable. Nothing in this world will ever fill our souls the way He can! So today, I want to encourage you to look closely at the price He paid to spend eternity with you and hold close to His promises with all you have.
The scripture at the beginning of this devotion is referred to as the wedding psalm. While it describes the wedding celebration of a king, it also applies to the marriage between Jesus and His people. While I certainly don't mean to speak frivolously about who God is in power and authority, I also know it's pertinent for my heart to understand His deep and faithful love for me. The words of this psalm speak of how we will be led into heaven into the presence of our king, perfectly and intricately adorned and made into everything we were ever created to be, as we devote ourselves to Him eternally. How is that for a happily ever after moment?
My sweet friend, you are loved and cherished by the one true king of this world, so whether you are taken or single, happy or hurting, cherished or feeling just plain discarded lately- let’s make it a point to wake up daily, allowing Him to hold our hearts before we seek love or validation from anything else in this life. If He is your God, you are his bride. No knight in shining armor, no true love's kiss, or even opening your eyes to a surprise iced coffee in the morning could ever compete with that.
