Better than a fairy tale

Recently I watched trailers for a new Cinderella film coming out.  My favourite bit of such films is where the hero is desperate to win the girl's heart and yet has many hurdles to overcome. Romantic films vary, but there is usually a fight, a pursuit or a struggle and the hero shows the strength of his passion by what he is prepared to endure or the persistence and determination it takes for him to win the heart of the girl he loves.

I wrestle with whether it is right to play these scenes over in my mind, imagining myself as the heroine. However I believe that my desire to be passionately loved and pursued is not wrong. It's meant to be fulfilled! I was made to be greatly loved and to love greatly in return.

Jesus is the hero who passionately loves me. Unlike Cinderella, his love for me is not just based on one magical evening of dancing. Jesus knows everything about me. He know the worst I've done and the worst I've still yet to do. And yet he loves me faithfully, unswervingly.

Jesus wants to bring me to live with him in his Father's palace. All the powers of hell have combined together to do everything they can to prevent this. It looked like they had won when Jesus died on the cross but they hadn't. In order to rescue me, Jesus chose to endure humiliation, torture, separation from his Father, injustice and death. He considered it worth it. His love for me does not fluctuate or waver like mine does for him.

And His desire is that I would have that same passionate love for him in return. That now, as He has done all that is needed to make it possible for me to come to Him, that I would 'consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus' (Phil 3:8). That I would pursue Him with a love like Paul’s, prepared to leave anything and everything else behind. Paul was not perfect but he loved Jesus with all his heart. Jesus does not want me to be striving after being perfect to deserve him somehow. He wants my heart to be full of love for him so that I pursue him and am clothed in his robes of righteousness (Is 61:10): more incredible and beautiful than any dress a fairy godmother could conjure up.

Jesus, forgive me. I find it so easy to think about, read and watch fictional romances and yet so hard to wake up to the reality of your love for me. Help me grasp the truth of your unchangeable love, Your total knowledge of who I am and Your unstoppable power to defeat the power of sin in my life. How amazing you are. I love you. Amen.

Postscript (taking the cling film off!): I've recently been reading Songs of Solomon and just want to add that God has created romantic love between people as a beautiful wonderful gift. I don't want my post to imply that we're not supposed to desire or enjoy romantic love. Romantic love between and man and woman is beautiful and precious. However, it pales next to the greatness of God's passionate love for us and it cannot bring us the ultimate fulfilment we find in being know and loved by God.