Into the Fire

Not insignificant is the fact that only two women responded to my inquiry in yesterday’s post. Men do not want to deal with romance.

Also significant is that both women mentioned romance pertaining to novels.

Insert bodice rippers for the secular offerings and sweet little ditties for the Christian fiction offerings and we present two stellar opposites in fiction writing.

So in life what different individuals perceive as romantic can also range from tawdry to tantalizing and nearly everything in between.

In spite of my inspiration for romance I seldom read them in CBA anymore as I’ve noted here previously. And I don’t read general market fare because I have no appetite for graphics or dirtying up what was meant to be appealing, attractive, and spiritual. Yes, spiritual. Taking away the spiritual from romance is like excluding it from anything else. All you have left is the animal magnetism which the world glorifies as sexy and sought after.

And, I assume, most men might agree: romance leads to sexual satisfaction. Or should eventually lead there. However, in the sense of building a relationship between believers, that satisfaction must wait on mutual commitment and making a covenant with God. So in the interim of reaching that place in a relationship, what happens after the initial attraction? How is the romance conducted?

Many men don’t focus on romantic notions. Some women are all about romantic notions, some are definitely not, but women need to know that something sets them apart to the men with whom they share their time and energies. The establishment of those “somethings” can often compute to romance for a woman. Certain looks, affection, words, and attention can all translate to romance.

Married men might forget the efforts engaged in to win their wives. After all, most relationships take time to build and inevitably implement special effects to keep the other party interested. Whether unholy or holy, generally speaking, romance appears and sustains the attraction to one another. In the unholy, sex rules. In the holy, sex is the ultimate expression of and conclusion to romantic feelings and actions.

At its heart, romance is from God. Not the human perversions or pressures or perceptions. It’s the indefinable attraction that draws people to God and man to woman and woman to man. It’s not flowers and candy, holidays with hearts, dinner out, or sappy novels. Not excluding those elements if those seem attractive to you. Romance is about the “wooing”, the pursuit of something desirable. That unique ring of truth the Holy Spirit used to cause you to see the Love of Jesus. That something special when you realized how much you wanted to see the love of your life again. And again.

Romance must remain to sustain love. God never stops filling us with His Love if we allow Him to have that freedom. The one with whom we share our lives should receive that same attention so we never lose our desire to please and be pleased. God is at the root of it all. He sets the example and gives us the freedom to express our physical love with His blessing. Fully. Completely. Romantically . . . however that is for us.

Thank you, Lord, for the way you love us. We can’t truly love without you. Fill us with more of yourself daily. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.