I’m a hopeless romantic. This is my favorite analogy of the gospel. And maybe God is a romantic too, when you look at the deep and perfect love He has for us. Our love story spans centuries and even milinnia. But He was patient, waiting for the perfect time to come back to us…to save us.

   The story goes something like this:

   At the start we had it all. The King’s son loved us. We were His, and nothing was forbidden to us… except one thing. There was a tree in the royal garden, whose fruit we couldn’t eat. Whatever right? There were gazillions of other trees in the garden, and He had said that the fruit was deadly, so we weren’t missing out on much.

   It was perfect.

  But when the Prince wasn’t around, His Rival sure was. Dark and mysterious, he was the complete opposite of the Prince. He pointed new things out, and his tongue was sharper than sharp when it came to the Prince.

  Doubts, sneaky little things   snuck into our mind. Was the Prince hiding something from us? Had He lied?

   His Rival whispered something about the fruit giving unfading beauty, complete knowledge, and eternal life.

  We reached out and grabbed the fruit. Without a second thought, we bit into it. The juice turned bitter in our mouth as we realized we had just stabbed our true love in the back.

  He returned. There was no covering this up and forgetting about it, He knew. Trust was severed, and the Law was broken. It wouldn’t be an easy fix.

  Strangely, He didn’t stop loving us. He didn’t turn His back on us, who’d rebelled for no good reason. Instead, He promised to come for us and to save us, and we were banished from the palace.

   …But not from His heart. Love letters came, notes of promise and healing, even poetry. He still wanted to marry us, and would do so, no matter what. He was coming.

    Was the rebellion worth the cost? Not even a little. We had traded the best guy in the world for someone who could only lie and leave us broken. But that didn’t keep us from seeing other people. In spite of the fact that that they left us empty and disiring more, we were unfaithful to our Lover.

   His arms were always open to us when we returned, tail between our legs, to our true love.

   Then came silence. No more letters arrived, no Messengers came our way.

   He arrived! He’d set aside His crown and all the luxuries of palace life to be with us. He wasn’t epecially hunky or dreamy, but what we needed-He was. He showed us what true love was, and healed us, physically and spiritually.

  We were not out of the tower just yet. The monster still needed to be slain. It wouldn’t be easy, and the cost would be much…

   The Prince’s Rival came around again, tormenting us and our Lover.

   He whispered that the Prince – if it even really was Him – didn’t love us and that He never could or would.

   To the Prince, he said that He was in too deep, He couldn’t do it. And why bother? Dying was something you did for good people, not murderers and thieves.

   The Prince refused to be swayed. We, on the other hand, were not so sure.

   So, when His Rival and his group of friends came for Him, we bit our tongue and were silent. We did nothing when they beat Him. The mocking and blows churned our stomach, but what could we do? It was too late. All we could do was watch as He endured Hell on Earth –  literally.

   They killed Him.

   Tears began to fall: big, salty, alligator tears of grief and regret. How could He be dead? Weren’t we meant to be with Him? If only we had stopped them!

  After a miserable day of weeping and regretting, we went to His grave to leave flowers and to talk it all out, even if He couldn’t hear our voice and reply.

   He wasn’t there. It was too much to bear. We couldn’t even pay our respects to our dead Lover. Where did they put Him? We were sure it was here… Overwhelmed, we collapsed on to the ground.

   Our name was spoken. Pain turned to joy as we saw it was Him! He was alive!

   The cords which had separated us were severed and the walls between us turned to dust. Death and sin had been conquered, and His Rival was forever silenced. We were His.

   Nothing can separate us. No matter how many times we turn away from Him, we are always welcome to return into His loving arms. We can always get back together.

   Our tale is not over just yet. The war has been won, but our heart is a constant battleground. And once again, He’s left us. He’s gone to prepare a place in the palace for us, and to plan our wedding, our happily ever after.

     We still have the letters (scripture) and His number (prayer) which we can call 24/7. And before He left, He gave us a mission: to share His love with others.

    He is the only one who can complete us; and His love is perfect, unending, and unfailing, no matter what. We are part of the Church, the bride of Christ; and daughters of the King of Kings, which makes us princesses.

    And you are His.

  

Scripture (the love letters)

• Genesis 2:4 – 3

• Hosea 2:14-23

• Psalm 45

• Ephesians 2:1-10

• Isaiah 52:13-54

• Zephaniah 3:14-17

• Romans 8:37-39

• Revelation 21

Love Songs: check out Whispers In The Dark from Skillet; and I Don’t Deserve You from Plumb!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you fall in love with Jesus a little more each day.

• Devotions
• Love story