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The Freedom

There are lots of distractions that keep one from a genuine love relationship with the Lord. Loving the Lord requires the whole heart, energy, mind, and soul. It necessitates a focused effort on one's part. But there are many bondages which immobilize one to commit into deep love fellowship with the Lord. That is why the adventurous love journey needs to commence with freedom from all limitations. We study this chapter in two sections: prayer and the motive for the prayer.

THE FIRST PRAYER

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth [1:2a KJV]

We observe the opening of the text being prayer. Prayer by itself is precious. When the prayer is about Him and His love, it is exceptional. Here we see her first prayer being the kiss, which shows her foremost fervent desire for His love. Let's pause for a moment and ponder our prayer life. What is the depth and breadth of our prayer life? What significance does it has among the many aspects of our spiritual life? What is the type (content) of our prayer? What is at the top of our prayer list? With that in mind, let's look at her prayer in detail.

Thy Will Be Done

"Let" shows a request on her part. She is not forcing Him to do the kiss. It has to happen with His initiation too. As much as she wants Him, she likes Him to kiss her out of His desire. That is why she just plainly makes her request known to Him.

It is His Pleasure

The Lord is more than eager to pour His heart upon her. It doesn't require any labor on her part. It's His utmost desire to fellowship in love with her. She doesn't need to wrestle with Him in this prayer. That is why she just requests of Him plainly to kiss her.

We need to understand that it is His pleasure to impart His love in us. Actually, I can go one step further and say that He has been waiting for this moment all along. All the time we ignored Him and were busy in the things of the world, He was there waiting! Now and then we called upon His name to fulfill our selfish desire. He didn't mind hoping we'd come around for Him. When we finally have a heart that hungers for His love, this is His dream come true! We just need to request and not struggle as if the idea originated with us. If we have the heart, that is all it takes!

There is Only One -- Jesus

There is only one who is the most excellent and singular person in the entire universe. Since He has no match or equal, there is no need to mention His name. The same thing happened to Mary (John 20:15). He is not one among alternatives. He is not one of the solutions. There is no ambiguity for there is only one of Him: "To us there is but one Lord, Jesus" (1 Cor. 8:6).

The Dynamics of Love

We find different kinds of kisses corresponding to different dynamics of love. At this time, she longs for the kiss of the mouth. Her prayer is for the kiss of the mouth, which depicts a deep desire for Him. Her focus is on Him and Him alone. She is not into His gifts, she is into the giver. She is not after his hands waiting for "things". Rather her eyes are fixed on His face and looking for His kiss. Let's see the two types of kisses she already has been experiencing and the new kiss that is sought now.

Kiss 1: The father kisses the neck of the prodigal son which shows acceptance (Luke 15:20). This kind of kiss allows one to kiss and the other to be kissed. Love flows fro Him into her. The kiss here is about forgiveness. She was kissed on the neck the first time she came to Him. And to this day she is continuously kissed. The kiss will go on into the future to assure her that the sin problem is solved once for all. That He is her advocate, not a prosecutor (John 1:7).

Kiss 2: Mary kissed the feet of Jesus which depicts adoration (Luke 7:38). Here the love dynamics remains the same. Except, now love flows from her towards Him. Out of the love she received from Him, she offers back to Him. She has been grateful for His provision and protection. She has been moved by His mercy and forgiveness. As a result she has been kissing His feet.

Kiss 3: She is familiar with yet another kind of kiss - a more glorious kiss. The kiss of the mouth is where both can kiss at the same time. And it is the most intimate and passionate kiss possible. In the past two kisses, she acquired a relationship. In a sense, it was a static state, referring to her position in Him. Now it is no longer static. It is dynamic, and it is a process. This requires fellowship and communion.

Things that Last

She is not satisfied with just one kiss. The kiss-and-ride kind of the kiss is not the issue here. She wants the kind where one has to take time. Kiss after kiss; lots of kisses. That is she longs to have all of Him, importantly, all the time.

Some have witnessed love once in their life, a long time ago, and they are left with only old love memories. However, they had experienced only the feelings of falling in love. True love has more to do with heart than feelings. Feelings, not surprisingly, go away with time.

The kisses here are of lasting true love which goes beyond feelings. As we follow her in the book of Song of Songs, she leaps from one love experience into a more glorious love experience. She is into the love journey of a life time. It's kisses, not just a kiss! She commits her will into loving Him for the rest of her life, all the time. Why is she so much in need of Him? Why did she not ask for things instead? Fortunately, she didn't leave us in the dark, as she explains ...

THE MOTIVES

... for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore, do the virgins love thee [1:2b,3 KJV]

More than the actual event, the motive is crucial to ascertain its value. It is the motive that gets into the root and reveals the real substance. We may speak right, dream right, act right and fool others, including ourselves. Yet, when the Lord sees deep through the motions, He might see everything wrapped up by self. Therefore, anything of such value needs its motive scrutinized. The motive for her prayer is two-fold: for His love is better than wine and for who He is. The motives validate her love to be real and true.

For His Love Is Better Than Wine

She has reached a state where His love is worth more than wine. Now, it has become clear to her that His life is better in every way than wine. Wine is anything that we believe can cheer us (Judge 9:13). Let's look at the different kinds of wine that may be found in our lives.

Lust Wine: When the flesh craves the sinful desires and is drawn to the flashy attraction of the world, then lust-wine takes over our life. We believe the lie of the devil over the truth of the Lord. We have a hard time seeing that sin is not to our advantage. We think that God cannot handle our happiness. We feel that He is an old grumpy person who doesn't let His children have fun. Even when one becomes aware of the devastating effect of lust-wine, he cannot do anything about it. Then lust-wine becomes a nuisance to growth. It becomes a distraction to our maturity. This cripples us from growing into His abundant life. That is a bondage which calls for freedom!

Want Wine: When our dreams and ambitions are boundless, and we want everything that comes our way, then want-wine takes over our hearts. The dreams and ambitions are carnal in nature with only "self" in the picture. Talk about God is only to silence the inner voice. We are obsessed to make this ambition a reality. We come under its control with no room for the heavenly. We hope someday to be a big shot, but as for today, we are miserable! We are deceived, for it doesn't look like sin - at least on the surface. We manage to convince ourselves that it is His will and press on to convince Him too! We can't let Him have His way in our life. Rather we try to push Him hard to meet our selfish desires by any means.

Need Wine: When we fear and worry concerning our needs regardless of the promises in His word, the need-wine takes over our hearts. The marvelous faithfulness of the Lord and the repeated great miracles of God in the past seem not to matter for the situation at hand. The enemy happens to get away with his lies. With the need-wine in charge, we become obsessed by it. We think and worry too much about it. We play the "what if" magic game - never to win. We think and must have the things to get over the anxiety. In doing so, we miss the real solution: to just be - with the Lord. 

This does not mean ignoring or neglecting our needs. It does not mean that we do not pray for our needs either. The issue is whether or not the need-wine is holding our hearts. Are we caught up by our needs? Is it hard for us to rest in Him and get our minds off the needs? Is it hard for us to rest in Him and get our minds off the needs? Do we want His will above all, whatever that may mean? Would we still mature in His Kingdom, fulfilling His purpose on this earth - no matter what? Is Jesus the one thing we absolutely and definitely must have to say in His will? If our answer is no, then the need-wine has power over our life, and we are in bondage.

His Love: She is in perfect freedom from the bondages of wine. She says that His love is better than wine in any form. When she tries to reach for His love, she is actually reaching for Him. The Word says: "God is love" (1 John 4:8b). His love, Himself, surpasses anything she could possibly imagine. As a result, she is totally free and is in love with Him, and nothing matters to her apart from His love. For her, His love is exceedingly excellent. All she could think is Him and His love - nothing else.

When we are immersed in His love, then life is not able to threaten us. We can then focus on the author of love and push the wine - even the need-wine - aside. Then things can happen. We just don't care anymore. We are into Him. The need-wine and want-wine are just additions that the Lord bestows on us - in His time.

Living for wine is living for a goal. Wine is always our goal in one form or another, only to lose its appeal when we get there. Let's start living for His love. That way, we will live to enjoy the process. We don't postpone our joy until some time in the future. Rather, we enjoy His love in time now, which is more exhilarating and cheering.

His love is of great value. Its profound fulfilling effect is long lasting. He is worthy of our love. So let's go for the love. If we do that, we soon find Him as the most ravishing and sweet Person. Let the Holy Spirit help us grasp the worthlessness of wine - only then can we be free to reach out and touch Him. And want His kiss. And have Him - at last.

For Who He Is

The first motive for His love is related to what He means to her. She compared Him with wine and found Him more appealing to her. Now, there is no comparison. But she has yet a deeper reason for wanting His love - for being who He is. Yes, loving Him for who He is.

This requires looking beyond what He has done. It deals with the source of His motivation, the mechanics of His action, the essence of His Personhood. It addresses the reason why He desires the way He desires, the logic of why He acts the way He acts. Why? The answer to that question is the motive for her love!

His Name

If we take time to study His name, we would notice that He is what His name says. Many people have a name with no apparent deeds to support it. For Jesus, His name represents Himself. The name tells who He is.

He is the Savior. We call Him Jesus which means just that. He is God who dwells among us. We call Him Immanuel which means just that. He gives a peace unlike the world gives. We call Him Prince of peace, which means just that. He is one with the Father. We call Him Mighty God, which means just that. He has no beginning and end. We call Him everlasting Father, which means just that. He is the Anointed One. We call Him Christ, which means just that. We can go on like this only to find out that His name is what He is.

These names are not mere titles. Rather, they communicate to us what He Himself is. This is He! In conclusion, His name is Himself and His realities. His name stands for His attributes, words, works, and being. And this Person is broken for us to become an ointment poured forth ...

Ointment Poured Forth

All the ointments the high priests used in the Old Testament where shadows of the ointment that has been realized in Jesus Christ. Christ means "anointed one" in Hebrew. The ointment was poured forth for the whole world when He became flesh, suffered on the cross, and become an advocate after resurrection. The promise which had been told for a long time was finally realized in Him.

A perfume that is sealed can't reveal its fragrance. Likewise, medicine sealed in a bottle won't help the sick. As a result, the priceless perfume of the ages was poured out at Calvary to make peace, healing, and above all, an abundant life. The sacred ointment is poured forth for all to smell the fragrance. And she knows!

However, many don't even notice this remarkable event. They don't know God the creator visited our world by becoming just like us. Even those who succeed in realizing what He did for them, fall short of knowing Him personally. Getting saved is only half of the story. By being saved we initiate the process of knowing Him. But loving Him is a process of a life time which can only be achieved through an intimate relationship with Him. Had they fallen in love with Him, it would not have been easier to ignore Him and become busy in the things of the world as believers.

Let along our experience, what we know about His pouring is only the tip of the iceberg compared to the realities of Jesus. As we walk in His love, our knowledge of His realities will expand. It is available, for He is poured out. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to see it for ourselves so that our awareness can take on the essence of Him as a Person. Then, in line to our awareness, our experience of His life will take new dimensions. And motivated by this, we will cry for His love!

The Holy One, Jesus, was poured forth so that we could smell His fragrance. We need to be captivated by this fragrance. Let's be aware of this marvelous, poured forth name and keep on marveling about the fragrance ...

Pleasing Fragrance

The ointment is perfumed with a fragrance that is pleasing. We need the Holy Spirit to help us be aware of the scent, like her. Only when we smell the pleasing fragrance, Jesus Himself, will we be motivated to rise up from our problems and stretch out for His love - freedom.

We can see three main characters of His pleasing power in our life. First, the only thing that is pleasing in its own right is Jesus. He alone by Himself suffices to fulfill our soul. There is none that can stand by itself to please us without the presence of additional things.

Secondly, He never loses His pleasing power in our life. We all know how a thing that looked so pleasing soon loses its appeal once we have it. But with Jesus, we reach the distention of joy and remain in it.

Thirdly, He not only keeps His pleasing power, but increases in measure. When we see Him, He appears pleasing to our eyes. When we have Him, He becomes even more pleasing in our life. Why wander in search of contentment? It doesn't help to make up our mind to be so. What we need is something pleasing, and we have it. If only our eyes were opened and we could see Him in His glory, we would be motivated to strive for His love. Then we would be in for the ride of our lives.

That is why she is after His love. She realized His pleasing fragrance which happens to be poured out for the all world. This realization motivated her to pray for more of His kiss - His love. No wonder she said His love is better than wine. She knows better - the better One. Finally, she noticed that He Himself is the reason for our love too ...

Therefore Virgins Love You

At first we love Him for saving us from eternal hell. As some of us grow in His knowledge, we eventually fall madly in love with Him. The closer we get to Him, the more amazing we find Him to be. We become virgins who are kept undefiled (Rev. 14:4-5). We reserve our affection and love for Christ only. We desire only Him and delight in Him alone. She realized why some of us are after Jesus. It is the same reason why she is seeking Him earnestly - more than anything. 

The world we live in creates circumstances that are not always favorable. We are constantly bombarded with blow after blow to which we constantly pray, hoping that we will enter into a perfect situation. But the cycle repeats itself, making our life a roller coaster. The solutions last only for the time being. We may not like it, but the Lord informed us about this situation (John 17:15).

If we know what it means to be in His love, we will settle for love prayer as our foremost prayer. Even in the midst of tragedy, all could be all right if we know and see the unfailing love of Jesus. Yes, many times we feel that He doesn't care! But if we misunderstand the author of love, who is going to be our refuge?

So let's pray for the lasting solution to this problem - freedom to seek His love first. In so doing, the mechanics of the circumstances are changed because we are shielded from the attack. We hide ourselves in His love, compassion, mercy, and comfort. The environment is out of our reach to control. So let's put our life, the only thing we control, in His hands. Let's choose to love Him and remain in His love. That way, we have a lover who controls the whole wide world. "... but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matt. 6:33).

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