"There is a peculiar condition that reveals how the love of God dwelleth in our hearts," writes Bible expositor Cora Harris MacIlravy (circa 1916) in her commentary on the Song of Solomon.
"When our love is burning strong and bright, and our hunger for the Beloved is deepening, we are more concerned to have Him work in us and make us to His glory, than we are to work for Him.
"God has made us for Himself. First, and above all else, He wants our
love; and when we give Him our hearts and undivided affections, all else will
follow. It depends entirely on how fully our hearts are given to Him."
*****
I always
remember an interview Oprah had with a French-Columbian politician who was
held hostage (often in solitary confinement where she did not even utter a
sound for days) by Columbia guerillas for six-plus years.
The lasting
message the woman said she took away from her horrific ordeal was, and this is
a direct quote, “Whoever the person you ultimately want to be, that one you
always dream about one day becoming, just be that person right now. You don’t
have to wait.”
*****
From the
1951 Christian bestseller by Jo Petty called “Apples of Gold”: “Love is the
passionate and abiding desire on the part of two or more people to produce
together conditions under which each can be, and spontaneously express, his
real self; to produce together an intellectual soil and an emotional climate in
which each can flourish, far superior to what either could achieve alone.”
******
Jesus,
Rose of Sharon, is a song written by Ida A. Guirey in 1922. The lyrics
include:
1. Jesus,
Rose of Sharon, bloom within my heart; Beauties of Thy truth and holiness
impart, That where-e’er I go my life may shed abroad Fragrance of thy knowledge
of the love of God.
2. Jesus,
Rose of Sharon, sweeter far to see Than the fairest flow’rs of earth could ever
be, Fill my life completely, adding more each day Of Thy grace divine and
purity, I pray.
*****
More from McIlravey’s book on the Song of Solomon:
"Let us lay our wills down at His feet, that His will may closely encompass us. Let us yield that he may purify and fashion us into His own glorious image.
"Only as we
abandon ourselves to Him without reserve, can we enter into the relation that
is here described; and go on to all that is set forth in the rest of this
revelation. Every power and every faculty--all, all must be His and for Him
alone; for Him to use as He pleases.
"The half-hearted Christian never knows the joy of the abandonment that is
ours when we say: 'I am for my Beloved.' Our only sorrow is that there is so
little to pour out at His feet. Our only regret is that all we can bring is so
contemptible compared to that which He is to us, and which is expressed in the
clause, 'My Beloved is mine.'
"Beloved reader, have we realized truly that we are 'for Him'? . . . To
our amazement and joy, He has bespoken us for Himself; and we have given
ourselves to be His through time and Eternity, to be His and His alone.
"Time is rapidly fading away, the things of the earth and of the natural
are sinking out of sight and becoming as shadows. There is a glory falling upon
our union with our Lord, which is shining more brightly as the days go by.
"It seems that there are only a few more mileposts to pass, only a little more of the earthy to be taken off, only a little more time in which to perfect our relation to Him and our separation from all else, and then we shall rise to meet Him in the clouds; and thus be forever with the Lord."