Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Love
is a many-splendored thing,
It’s the April rose that only
grows, In the early Spring.
Love is nature’s way of giving,
A reason
to be living,
The golden
crown that makes a man a king.
Once on a
high and windy hill,
In the morning
mist two lovers kissed and the world
stood still.
Then your
fingers touched my silent heart and
taught it how to sing,
Yes, true
love’s a many-splendored thing.
True love…
Is it just a fleeting fantasy, a
mirage that evaporates in the harsh
realities of life? Is it only a Hollywood
hoax to fool us into hoping it could
happen to us? If it were real, what
would be its substance? How could
it endure?
I happened
upon a happy woman the other day.
She had a certain glory upon her
as she brooded over her lively and
pleasant children. The deep contentment
of a happy marriage and a purposeful
life radiated from her. It was not
that her life had been easy. By western
standards she would be considered
poor. Raised in an orphanage after
a family tragedy, she had a lot to
overcome. And it was not that her
husband was particularly handsome
or faultless. He also was from a
broken family and had his own ingrained
iniquities. But twelve years and
five children into their marriage
they are still deeply in love. There
is no denying the fact that they
have found something precious that
has eluded most of humanity.
Their marriage is a duet rather
than a
duel.
It isn’t merely
the result
of an idyllic
romance
or adherence
to a set of biblical principles,
although
they were
very much
in love with
one another
when they
were married,
and they
did indeed
respect the authority and divine
inspiration
of the
Bible.
Countless are the
failed
marriages
that have begun with
those two
valuable
but insufficient ingredients. But
the
marriage
of Jennifer
and Daniel
is the fruit of a restoration
in their
own lives
to the
very purpose
for which they were created.
God created
man in His own image and likeness,
as male and female, in order to
fill the earth and ultimately the
universe with His highest creation,
to rule over it in love. For this
purpose He gave them eros — sexual
desire for one another — and the
exquisite pleasure of its fulfillment.
Both are from His hand, and both
are intended not only for the propagation
of human life, but also for the
bonding of husband and wife into
a lifelong covenant relationship
to create stable, secure families.
God established
the role of desire, and the suffering
that attends it because of the
Fall, for the stability of marriage
and the family:
16 To the
woman he said, “I will surely
multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and 
he shall rule over you.” 17
And to Adam he said, “Because
you have
listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of
the tree
of which I commanded you, ‘You
shall not eat of it,’ cursed
is the ground because of you; in
pain you shall eat of it all the
days of your life; 18 thorns and
thistles it shall bring forth for
you; and you shall eat the plants
of the field. 19 By the sweat of
your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken; for
you are dust, and to dust you shall
return.” (Genesis 3:16-19)
A woman’s desire for her
husband
kindles
the fire of his
eros for her. It is her
response
to his attention that gives him
the confidence
to take
her under his protective
rule and
love her with his
whole heart.
This womanly desire stimulates
his love for
her and
directs
his sexual energies toward her.
It protects both her
and him
from all
other evil desires, even from Satan
himself. It was
their Creator’s intention
that a
man and
his wife would know only each other
sexually, and that
their coming
together
would bond them heart and soul
into one God-like
social
unit
— a building block of human civilization.
They would
be co-workers
in creation
with Him, procreating desired children
and pouring
their lives
into those children
to make
them secure and productive.
After the
Fall, God multiplied the pain that
both the woman and the man would
have to bear in their respective
roles in the marriage. This was
not so much a punishment as a provision
to increase their dependence upon
their Creator and to strengthen
their character and their relationships
with one another and with their
children. The pain of childbirth
bonds a woman to her children,
and to her husband whose heart
wells up with love and respect
for his wife as he sees her suffer
to give birth to his children.
The woman’s respect for her
husband increases as she sees him
labor to provide for her from the
reluctant earth, and risk his life
to protect her. Their children
grow up to labor alongside their
parents, essential to the running
of the household, fields, and herds,
which gives them dignity and keeps
them out of trouble.
This is
the order
that
God intended, which He has inscribed
into the conscience
of every
human
being. It is the foundational
knowledge
of good and evil that
fallen
man is accountable to live
by,
but it is abundantly clear that
he has drifted a long
ways from
it. Most
men and women today are out of
this order and
the resulting
dysfunction
is bringing humanity to the brink
of destruction.
The natural
desire
God put in woman for man she
has subverted to usurp
his rule,
while
the man has either abdicated
his rulership or used
his strength
to dominate
and oppress the woman. Marriage
has become
a duel
rather
than a duet, and countless men
and women have abandoned
it altogether,
gratifying
their sexual impulses in increasingly
perverse
and destructive
ways. “Love” has
become
a “many-splintered” thing
rather
than
a many-splendored thing, and
the
devastating
consequences for untold generations
of children
are mounting
into
a global nightmare of unimaginable
proportions.
By far
the most shameful fact of this
landslide of degradation is the
utter impotence of Christianity
to restrain it. Far from being
the salt of the earth or the light
to the nations, she has been sliding
down the slippery slope of compromise
herself, winking at immorality
in the clergy, ordaining homosexuals,
and catering to the worldly appetites
of her youth. According to The
Barna Group, a conservative Christian
research agency,
The divorce
rate among Christians in America
is the same as that among non-Christians;
At least
30% of “born-again” adults
support the legalization of same-gender
sexual relations;
There
is no difference between “born-again” and
unchurched adults in the likelihood
of viewing adult-only content on
the Internet, or reading magazines,
or watching videos with explicit
sexual content.
And things
are getting worse rather than better
within Christianity as the years
go by.
Restoration
Where,
then, is the restoration of humanity
going to come from? Where can true
love be found? It can only be found
where true forgiveness is found.
In fact, it can only be found where
the truth is found. The truth sets
people free from their sin. The
problem with the world is that
people are not set free from their
sin. They are not forgiven and
they cannot forgive, therefore
they cannot live in peace with
one another. And no amount of legislation
can restore the order and harmony
God intended for humanity.
That is
not to
say the
world
should
revert
to anarchy, but that those who
profess
faith
in the
Son of
God should
look to Him for the
solution,
not to
this
world,
which
is passing
away, along with its desires.
Yahshua,
the Son
of God, is the very Word of God
in human
flesh,
the living
embodiment
of the
truth.
He came
to undo the works
of the
evil
one, who is the father of lies.
Yahshua
came
to restore
true
love on the earth.
But He
did not
even
try to
reform
the existing
political or religious establishment.
He called
His disciples
out of
the existing
order and
taught
them the
way of
love.
They had
to forsake
everything
to follow
Him — jobs, possessions,
family,
friends,
even
concepts
and prejudices — anything
and anyone
that
held
them
back
from
being fully surrendered and available
to Him.
He put
them
on the
foundation
of absolute
obedience
to His words, just
as He
was absolutely
obedient
to His
Father’s
words.
On that
foundation
He could
teach
them
how to
love
one another, in the only context
in which
love
can be
learned
— living
together.
They
were
always
together.
Love
cannot
be learned
in the abstract, but only
in the
daily
realities
of submitting
to one
another
and bearing
with each
other’s
faults
and failures.
The night
before His death, having taught
them the way of love day and night
for over three years, He left His
disciples with the clearest expression
of His will for them:
“A new commandment
I give
to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you,
you also
are to love one another. By this
all people will know that
you are
My disciples, if you have love for
one another.” (John
13:34-35)
And the
disciple who had stayed the closest
to Yahshua’s side gave the
authoritative commentary on His
most important commandment, so
that there would be no confusion
about what He meant:
14 We know
that we have passed out of death
into life, because we love the
brothers. Whoever does not love
abides in death. 15 Everyone who
hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has
eternal life abiding in him. 16
By this we know love, that He laid
down His life for us, and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17 But if anyone has the world’s
goods and sees his brother in need,
yet closes his heart against him,
how does God’s love abide
in him? 18 Little children, let
us not love in word or talk but
in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:14-18)
They were
to lay
down their
lives for one another daily,
just as their
Master
had laid
down His life for them, both practically
for all
their years
together,
and ultimately by dying in their
place. Love provides
for another’s needs; hatred
holds back.
Everything
Yahshua
taught
His disciples,
by word
and deed,
from
the day He called them
until
the moment
He ascended
into
heaven after His resurrection,
was the “Gospel
of the
Kingdom” which He
entrusted
to them.
They
were
His apprentices,
so that
when fully trained
they
would
be just
like
their
Teacher. So there is no
confusing
His last
solemn
command
to them.
They
were to spend the rest of their
lives
doing
exactly
what
He had done
for them
— make disciples,
teaching
them,
by word
and example,
to obey
everything He had commanded
them.
But this
was no
burden
for them, for they had been
deeply
loved,
so they
also
would
love deeply, from the heart.
So when
Peter first preached the gospel
ten days later, on the Day of Pentecost,
telling the people how to “be
saved from this perverse generation,” the
effect was consistent with his
training:
Those who
received his word were baptized,
and there were added that day about
three thousand souls. And they
devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
and fellowship, to the breaking
of bread and the prayers. And awe
came upon every soul, and many
wonders and signs were being done
through the apostles. And all who
believed were together and had
all things in common. And they
were selling their property and
possessions and distributing the
proceeds to all, as any had need.
Day by day continuing with one
mind in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house, they
were taking their meals together
with gladness and sincerity of
heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people. And
the Lord added to their number
day by day those who were being
saved. (Acts 2:41-47)
Now the
full number of those who believed
were of one heart and soul, and
no one said that any of the things
that belonged to him was his own,
but they had everything in common.
And with great power the apostles
were giving testimony to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, and great grace
was upon them all. There was not
a needy person among them, for
as many as were owners of lands
or houses sold them and brought
the proceeds of what was sold and
laid it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to each
as any had need. (Acts 4:32-35)
The True
One
who is
Love had
planted
true love
in a handful
of willing and grateful
hearts,
and that
seed had
begun to
bear the
first fruits of love
— a people
with one
heart and
one way,
just as
the prophet Jeremiah had foretold.
They loved
one another
in the
same way
their Savior had loved
them —
by laying
down their
lives for
one another
— and there was no
mistaking
the fact
that they
were His
disciples. They had learned
the way
of love.
That is
the way
the church
was in
the first
century, and there is no other
way the
church
can be
than
the way it was when it was “the
Way.” That is where true
love is
found,
and that
is where
true love finds a way to set people
free from
their sin,
so that
restoration
can happen. It is where
two lost
and damaged
souls like
Daniel,
a wandering
Jew, and Jennifer,
a confused
Christian, could each face the
truth about
their own
condition
and receive forgiveness
as they
forsook
everything
in the
waters of baptism.
And
it is where the wise
and loving
hands
of their brothers
and sisters
could put
their
lives on a good
foundation
and teach
them
the way of love. And having learned
that
way,
two lives
rescued
from the collapsing
world
could be bonded
together
in a
covenant of marriage that would
express
the true
love
between Messiah
and His
bride.
Multiplied
thousands
of redeemed lives such as theirs,
knit together by the
bonds of
marriage and brotherhood, will
be a great light of brilliance,
a witness
to the power of love
that will
someday fill the universe. Yes,
true love is a many-splendored
thing!
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