Cochrane Alliance Church

And I thought that I was the only one who felt this way.

I have always had some difficulty singing worship songs that take intimacy with Jesus really literally. For example  in Let My Word’s be Few, Matt Redman (an artist whose Biblical lyrics I very often appreciate) writes, “You are God in heaven, And here am I on earth, So I'll let my words be few. Jesus I am so in love with You.” Redman takes a great quote right out of Ecclesiastes but tacks on the “I’m in love with you Jesus” at the end. I have always felt a little weird singing that song (and others like it) because although I love Jesus, I don't feel in love with him. For a long while I kept my ideas to myself.

Then I happened upon an old blog post from a former professor of mine, John Stackhouse. He writes:

Jesus is not your boyfriend, not your fiancé, and not your eventual husband.

By God’s grace, Christians get to enjoy a wide range of relationships with Jesus. We are described in the New Testament variously as Jesus’ slaves, Jesus’ servants, Jesus’ co-workers, Jesus’ friends, and even Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Since the plural form of each of these is used, it is correct then for me to say, “I am Jesus’ slave, servant, co-worker,” etc.

But the New Testament never calls Christians Jesus’ fiancées or his brides. Instead, it is the Church collectively, and only the Church as a whole, that relates to Jesus this way–just as individual Israelites did not relate to Yhwh as so many spouses, but only the nation of Israel as nation was his beloved bride.

So I’m not singing to Jesus that I’m in love with him, because I’m not. I love him, and I aspire to loving him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. But I do not aspire to being in love with him, and I’m sure he understands.

I happen to agree, but I suspect that some of you may have a different point of view. Agree or disagree, I’d love to hear from you.

For those of you who would like to read Stackhouse’s entire post click here.