God loves us so much, John 3:16 tells us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

He expects us to accept and love his loving Son Jesus Christ.
In the book of Song of Songs the Bible gives us an example of how that love should be. The book tells us the stages in a relationship guided by God’s love through Jesus Christ.
I invite you to join me in the telling of the story that change the way I think about the Gospels, which starts and develops like this:

1. Courtship (friendship, knowledge and falling in love)
2. Commitment (wish to formalize the relationship ending in marriage)
3. Wedding preparations.
4. Wedding takes place.
5. Marriage consummation.
6. First disagreement and separation.
7. Reconciliation

Who among us hasn’t had that experience? I mean the feeling of being attracted to someone!
It doesn’t show up out of the blue! Let’s remember what we did to pursue the one we were interested about. Once we start the friendship we begin the exchange of information about the activities that matter to both, what you like and dislike, what you enjoy, etc. Many times your tastes aren’t the same however more than once or both will give in to the other in order to please, until you end up in love, not wanting to be apart and you commit to start a family together.

The Bible shows us that the love between Jesus and his church is similar to the love between a man and a woman who are getting to know each other and have it in their minds and in their hearts to strengthen their relationship and get married. This relationship should be, in every stage, genuine, pure and with mutual respect.

As Christians we are presented as the bride and Jesus as the groom that waits to be joined with his beloved and make her his wife for all eternity.
The time we are living in can be considered the time of preparation before the wedding. The Bible tells us Jesus will come back for us and the ones who have gone before us will be risen from the dead to be with him. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
in the mean time we have the opportunity of winning over the one we love with our actions while also preparing for the wedding. The small details that will make a big impact in our daily lives.

What does it mean to be in loved with Jesus?

Before falling in love with Jesus there is the act of confessing with your mouth that you accept him in your life as your savior. After that you’ll experience a joy from within you, a continuous happiness that moves you to share that love with others because you can’t keep quiet, it’s too big to hold it in. The best part of all is that the love you experience is not selfish, you’ll want others to feel what you feel, to know and love God like you do.

This will likely take place in the courtship stage, this is where you put all your effort into showing how much you care and how happy you are to walk beside your beloved. Then in your heart you’ll feel a need to commit yourself to God and living a life pleasing to him. You are not satisfied with what you have been receiving so far, you want more of His words, more of His presence. You realize the emptiness in your life has vanished and despite your circumstances there is joy in your heart.
All of this takes place not because of a decision you’ve made but because God loved you first and chose you for his service. He didn’t take into account your past mistakes, since you accepted Christ he has cleaned you making you a new creature just as he did with me and everyone of us who has accepted and followed him.

The next article will talk about the next steps described in the wonderful book that is Song of Songs.
God loves you and calls you to seek him! “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:6‬ ‭NIV ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬