THE PRINCIPLES OF A LOVING, GODLY RELATIONSHIP – WOMAN TO MAN (PART 6 – EXERCISE COMMITMENT)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.

My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies.

May the wine go straight to my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.

Song of Songs 2:16; 6:2-3; 7:9b-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We learn a lot of things when we enter into loving, Godly relationships in life but perhaps none is more important after love than the matter of commitment. Look at the biggest reason marriages fail and often it comes to the matter of one’s faithfulness toward their partner, an inability to stay loyal to the vows they took when they promised to stand by their mate through thick and thin, no matter what life might bring.

So what is so hard about staying devoted to one who you pledged to love and care for all the days of your life?

Perhaps the answer comes in how we commit ourselves to the Lord in the way we live.

Think about it. If someone fails to stay true to God, then they fail to receive His righteousness and holiness. And when they fail to receive His righteousness and holiness, then they will be vulnerable to falling into sin, sin that can take them down the road of immorality, sin that can lead them to infidelity.

It makes complete sense, doesn’t it? We have one primary choice to make that impacts all the other choices we make. Either we choose the Lord and allow Him to guide us to live upright in all we do or we choose to reject the Lord and allow Satan to lead us into iniquity.

It’s the matter of who we commit to, the Lord or Satan, that makes all the difference in how we commit ourselves to one another in relationship.

So what does commitment look like in a loving, Godly relationship?

Let’s continue our look at the Song of Songs and three different statements by Shulammite, the woman who had such a deep love for Solomon.

My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.

My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies.

May the wine go straight to my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.

Song of Songs 2:16; 6:2-3; 7:9b-10

Do you see the reoccurring theme here?

Shulammite spoke with complete confidence about the solid commitment shared between her and Solomon. He belonged to her and she belonged to him. There was no need for anyone else in their lives. They only desired one another.

As a man who has a woman who is akin to Shulammite, I love to read her words because it reminds me totally of the devotion and dedication that Grace and I share, a commitment that first originates from our staunch belief and trust in the Lord. With this, I could completely see Grace echoing the words of Shulammite, saying “My beloved Mark is mine and I am his. His desire is for me.” That wouldn’t happen if I didn’t remain fully loyal and faithful to her in every way over the more than 21 years we have been together.

Yes, I can speak from experience when I say that one of the principles of a loving, Godly relationship is exercising commitment for your mate. Totally devote yourself to the Lord first and you will ensure this principle is present in the life you share with your mate.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

THE PRINCIPLES OF A LOVING, GODLY RELATIONSHIP – WOMAN TO MAN (PART 5 – ACKNOWLEDGE THE LOVE YOU HAVE FOR YOUR PARTNER)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

Song of Songs 2:5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Love is central to all things in life, or at least it is supposed to be. It’s to be the tie that binds us to God and the tie that is to bind us together as His children. If you doubt that, look at what our Savior Jesus had to say when asked about the greatest commandment:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40

Note here that the greatest commandment wasn’t to have no other gods before God or to honor one’s parents, or to not murder, steal, commit adultery, covet, or bear false witness (Exodus 20:1-17). No the greatest commandment was to love. To love God with all your being and to love people as you love yourself.

It’s really fundamental. We first love God with all that we are and when we dedicate ourselves to Him, heart, mind, and soul, then He becomes a part of us and His amazing, never ceasing love is part of that package, a love that we can then extend to others.

Yes, when we truly look at God, we can’t help but see love in its most perfect sense. He loved us so much that He did not desire that we all perish because of our sinfulness and so He chose to offer up Jesus instead, a living sacrifice to pay the price we should have paid. He loved us so much that He gave us a Savior who loves as He loves.

I mentioned a marriage Bible study I had the privilege to teach in a prior devotion in this series. Another of the great principles it shared regarded the matter of how to love within a relationship, how one partner should love the other. You see, we make love too hard. This was the assertion. We, in our limited capacity to do all things, try and control and dictate our love, and in turn, we find we’re not that good at it.

But something awesome happens when we stop trying to figure out to love and instead allow God to love others through us. Then, the love we share is His love, perfect in every way as we become instruments of love that the Lord uses to extend His affection to others. This works in all our relationships in life but it particularly works well within the context of a relationship between a woman and a man.

We see this in action through our scripture verse from the 2nd Chapter of Song of Songs as Shulammite, the mate of Solomon, shares words about her love for him. Look again at her words:

Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

Such was the power of love she acknowledged for her partner that she found her energy sapped and in need of renewal. Shulammite testifies that she is faint from the deep love she had for Solomon, the kind of deep love and affection that could only come from God Himself. It truly is an incredible statement of devotion and adoration.

And so today, we are challenged by this word of the Lord, challenged to examine the love we have in our hearts and minds and souls. Do we truly love God with all that we are so that He then can lead us to love others as He loves? Do we let our partner know how much we love them, extending the love we get from God unto them?

These are questions that only each of us can answer where we are today.

I know one thing. No one can love properly unless they allow God to lead them as they love. For God’s word is clear:

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

THE PRINCIPLES OF A LOVING, GODLY RELATIONSHIP – WOMAN TO MAN (PART 4 – VALUE YOURSELF)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!

Song of Songs 2:1, 8:10-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When you’re in a relationship, a woman who treats their mate in a loving, Godly way will always be complimentary, cherish the moments she has with him, and let him know how valuable he, never hesitating to let him know he is seen as a beautiful, priceless gift provided by God.

But in order to properly value others, we need to be able to value ourselves, don’t we?

Through my years of ministry, I have seen people shackled by the bondage of low self-esteem, sometimes brought on themselves but more often brought on by others through the course of relationships. These people were not treated as if they were God’s priceless gift but rather treated as if they were useless to the people they were connected to. Subsequently, they adopted a view that they lacked value because others devalued them so much. These are some of the saddest cases I have had to deal with.

Friends, we simply must not allow others to tear us down when we are so special in the sight of God, our Creator, the One who always looks past our imperfections and loves us perfectly even when we’re not, the One who will always value us, no matter what. No matter what others might say to try and defeat us, we need to always take stock in who we are as a living child of the God Most High and see ourselves as victorious through His Son Jesus who He sent to save us. Certainly, if we weren’t valued by God, He would have never done that. We can’t ever forget that.

In today’s scripture passage, we find Shulammite clearly proclaiming her wonderful qualities. Not only does she see Solomon’s great worth but she sees her worth as well. Look again at her words here:

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!

Song of Songs 2:1, 8:10-12

The rose, a symbol of love, and lily are two of the most beautiful plants known to man. They were during the days of Solomon and they still are today. Shulammite saw herself in this way, beautiful and esteemed for that beauty by others.

She also saw herself as strong, a wall standing strong and reinforced by a special love within her relationship. When we’re in the midst of a bond with someone who loves us in a Godly way, we feel secure and sturdy, confident and durable, resilient against the challenges of life because we know we aren’t facing them alone.

Finally, Shulammite viewed herself as a thriving vineyard producing wonderful fruit to be enjoyed by her keeper, specifically Solomon here. She wanted to give him her best, and do so freely and joyfully, because she loved him so very much. She saw her love as valuable and reserved it for the one who she wanted to share it with, the one God had blessed her with.

So as we close this devotion today, the word of God would ask any woman who is in a relationship today, “Do you see yourself as valued, priceless, special, and precious in My sight?”

No matter where you are in life today, I pray your answer would be “yes”. If you are truly in a loving, Godly relationship like Shulammite was, I know it will be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

THE PRINCIPLES OF A LOVING, GODLY RELATIONSHIP – WOMAN TO MAN (PART 3 – VALUE YOUR MATE)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.

Song of Songs 1:13-14, 2:4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Be complimentary and cherish companionship.

These are the first two principles of a loving, Godly relationship a woman should have in relation to her man. There are six more we will cover over the next several days as we study the Song of Songs and today we will look at principle number three: Value your mate.

In a Bible study on marriage I taught recently, one of the key tenets was to see your partner as God’s beautiful priceless gift to you. It’s a point worth considering as we look on the call to value our mate.

First of all, if you receive a gift that has value, don’t you cherish it and seek to do everything you can to take care of it. Now take this to the next level and think of that gift from God. How much more would you want to ensure you did everything in your power to care for the gift He gave you, the rich blessing provided by His almighty hands?

So often, too often actually, we take the people the Lord brings into our lives for granted when we should be treating them like the treasures they are. For we could have been left alone in life but God chose to give us a partner to live and love and learn with through this journey called life. This is not something to take lightly or nonchalantly. No, we are to treat everything that God gives us as being exceptional and invaluable, never receiving His blessings with an attitude of indifference.

Shulammite certainly didn’t look at Solomon this way. Instead, she appreciated Solomon so very much and made it no secret. She loved him, relishing every opportunity she had to spend time with him, taking great pleasure in complimenting him with every chance she had.

Yes, she valued her mate and as we see in our scripture verses today, she speaks of that value in poetic terms as she does with much of her dialogue in this book. Look at these verses from Chapters 1 and 2:

My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.

Song of Songs 1:13-14, 2:4

How valuable was the fragrant myrrh that was so prevalent in biblical times?

In dollars, estimates are that it could have been worth as much as $4,000 a pound. Now that is something valuable, right? It’s this sense of worth that Shulammite attached to her mate, the one she loved to be with, the one she cherished so very much.

She also valued him for his beauty. As we looked at her comments in Part 1, we saw where she complimented him on every part of his body, taking great delight in his every detail. This is how much she valued him, not just a part of him but all of him. Like the splendor of a cluster of beautiful henna blossoms, so was he in her eyes when they were together.

Finally, Shulammite valued Solomon for his love, a love she yearned to be a banner over her, a love she longed for to be a feast in the banquet hall of desire.

Oh how we can learn so much about how to compliment, to cherish companionship, and to value our partners through these words within the Song of Songs. I pray for all women to have the same mind of Shulammite as they share life with the man that God has provided to them as a beautiful, priceless gift.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com