#007 I Like You (Song of Solomon 4:1-16)
Sometimes in our house, instead of saying ‘I love you’ we say ‘I like you.’
The reason for this is because genuine Christian love is possible even when we don’t feel like it.
Love is not a feeling first. If it was, we’d love others (even ourselves) inconsistently at best. If love was a feeling first, dependent on our emotions, it would be very clear when I didn’t love my wife and when she didn’t love me.
Actually, the beauty and power of Christian love is that it transcends mere emotion. Christian love doesn’t disappear when our affections do. So, when the Bible commands us to love one another, it doesn’t expect us to wait until we feel like it before we love others.
However…
Affection is deeply important. In fact, true love pursues affection - is ambitious for affection. When affection is missing, when the emotional side of love is absent, that’s when we start to doubt love. That’s when insecurities begin to creep in and we begin to question whether what we thought was love, is nothing more than mere duty.
So, sometimes in our house, my wife and I will say ‘I like you’ to each other, instead of ‘I love you.’ A reminder that our love for one another includes affection. To say ‘I like you’ means that we enjoy, value, and are fond of each other.
‘I like you’ is the reassurance that our love is not mere duty, that we matter to each other beyond the legally binding conditions of our marriage vows.
Christian, I want you to be sure today that Jesus himself, doesn’t just love you, he does like you.
We see this so very clearly in Song of Solomon, an encomium of adoration written by wise King Solomon. As you may know, Solomon is a ‘type’ of Christ. So we ought to think of Solomon’s love song to his bride, first and foremost, as Christ’s love song to his church.
Just listen to what kind of things Jesus has to say about his church…
Song 4:7 ‘You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish in you.’
Song 4:9 ‘You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes…’
Song 7:6 ‘How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your charms!’
We can be left in no doubt about his affection for us. Jesus doesn’t just love us, he likes us. Very much indeed. Even when our affections are cold toward him, Jesus reassures us with words like those. Meaning, I don’t just love you. I like you.
The reason for this is because genuine Christian love is possible even when we don’t feel like it.
Love is not a feeling first. If it was, we’d love others (even ourselves) inconsistently at best. If love was a feeling first, dependent on our emotions, it would be very clear when I didn’t love my wife and when she didn’t love me.
Actually, the beauty and power of Christian love is that it transcends mere emotion. Christian love doesn’t disappear when our affections do. So, when the Bible commands us to love one another, it doesn’t expect us to wait until we feel like it before we love others.
However…
Affection is deeply important. In fact, true love pursues affection - is ambitious for affection. When affection is missing, when the emotional side of love is absent, that’s when we start to doubt love. That’s when insecurities begin to creep in and we begin to question whether what we thought was love, is nothing more than mere duty.
So, sometimes in our house, my wife and I will say ‘I like you’ to each other, instead of ‘I love you.’ A reminder that our love for one another includes affection. To say ‘I like you’ means that we enjoy, value, and are fond of each other.
‘I like you’ is the reassurance that our love is not mere duty, that we matter to each other beyond the legally binding conditions of our marriage vows.
Christian, I want you to be sure today that Jesus himself, doesn’t just love you, he does like you.
We see this so very clearly in Song of Solomon, an encomium of adoration written by wise King Solomon. As you may know, Solomon is a ‘type’ of Christ. So we ought to think of Solomon’s love song to his bride, first and foremost, as Christ’s love song to his church.
Just listen to what kind of things Jesus has to say about his church…
Song 4:7 ‘You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish in you.’
Song 4:9 ‘You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes…’
Song 7:6 ‘How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your charms!’
We can be left in no doubt about his affection for us. Jesus doesn’t just love us, he likes us. Very much indeed. Even when our affections are cold toward him, Jesus reassures us with words like those. Meaning, I don’t just love you. I like you.
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