Draw me; we will run after you.
The king has brought me into his chambers.
We will rejoice in you and be glad;
We will extol your love more than wine.
Rightly do they love you.
— The Song of Songs 1:4
For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 11:2-3
God desires to gain a group of people who love Him rightly as virgins. Such virgins do not have any plan for themselves. If there are many virgins loving the Lord rightly, He will have a church rightly loving Him. Then it is very easy for this church to be built up. The question is, how many of us rightly love Him? How many love Him without any requests, reservations, or conditions? How many of us have such a pure love toward Him? We have so many workers and so few lovers in the church. We like to compare ourselves with others: “Which of us is more manifested? Who is the leading one?” It is a fallen situation when we become merely workers.
We are so used to work that we train people to work instead of to love the Lord. It seems that we can tolerate people being away from the presence of the Lord, but we cannot tolerate the collapse of our work. Our focus is on the work more than on the saints’ love relationship with the Lord. The Song of Songs reveals to us that anything besides loving the Lord is unnecessary. The real service comes out of our love to the Lord. May the Lord raise up more lovers in the church who are only interested in Him!
Brothers and sisters, I have a heavy burden. May the Lord anoint these words so that we can love Him rightly! May the Lord gain a group of people to love Him rightly in the churches today! Only then can the churches be built up.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 134-135.
Monday: “Set Free from Sin”