Love comes in many forms…is yours true love? Here is a big lesson I learned from leaving a love note!
And some true love notes from the Song of Songs (Solomon)
My grandfather sat at the table sorting his key box. That box where you keep all the extra keys to cars, doors, stuff. He identified some that were no longer needed, and I asked if I could keep them. With a ring of three keys, I headed off to Jr. High School. I covertly opened the locker two down from me and placed a note and the keys on the top shelf. The note read,
“You have the keys to my heart.”
Although the note was unsigned, I was pretty sure he would know who left it.
My first period class was near our 7th grade lockers. So, I set myself up to watch as students arrived off the buses. He opened his locker, read the note, crumpled it, then hurled the keys down the stairs going to the janitor’s office. I was mortified.
Not only was it was it not the outcome I’d hoped for, but his is visceral reaction of crumpling the note, and hurling the keys away was crushing.
Then on the announcements the next morning, the school secretary stated,
“A set of keys was found yesterday.
If you are missing some keys they are being kept in the office.”
With him sitting just one seat away, I couldn’t shrink small enough to disappear despite my efforts.
And for six more years, those keys were on a little nail, just inside the school office door. I had to walk by them if I needed a lunch card, activity card, or turn in a note from home. Adding insult to injury, they glared at me while I waited to see the principal a time or two.
In fact, for all I know, they are still hanging on that nail today!
That boy was not my true love, just a 12-year-old crush. And crush it did, but it also provided a lesson I still think about today when others vehemently throw away the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. I had made no sacrifice to give those disposable keys and scrap paper love note.
Yet, Jesus sacrificed His life for us!
Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!”
Yet, people callously say at best, “So?” Refusing His gift of eternal life. Perhaps it’s because we try comparing His pure, selfless love with our versions of human love. Our Hallmark Movie brand of love with all its failings makes us cynical and suspicious. Nobody can be that selfless and giving! We wonder, “What’s in it for you Jesus? How can this be free?” But it is free, eternal, and selflessly given. God left us love notes to read and to treasure, not to crumble, ignore, or throw away.
God wants you to know:
How beautiful you are, my darling,
how beautiful!
Song of Solomon 1:15
As a part of the church, the Bride, He assures us:
My lover is mine, and I am his.
Song of Solomon 2:16
God created you to be unique, special, and He adores you:
Oh, how beautiful you are!
How pleasing, my love, how full of delights!
Song of Solomon 7:6
God’s desire is for you to feel His pure love like a blazing fire inside your very soul:
Love flashes like fire,
the brightest kind of flame.
Song of Solomon 8:6
God wants you to understand that His offer of freely given eternal life is based on His uncompromising true love for you:
Many waters cannot quench love,
nor can rivers drown it.
Song of Solomon 8:7
He patiently waits for you to accept. Just being a good person doesn’t equal salvation. And there is no requirement to clean up your act, or be a better person, because He wants you right here and right now. If you are ready to step into the deepest, truest love relationship possible, pray these words.
