Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death; jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol. Love’s flames are fiery flames—an almighty flame! Song of Songs 8:6
It was early evening—another crystal-clear dusk under our big Texas sky. My late wife Bobbie and I were on the way to our Bible study.
As we were driving through our subdivision discussing the day’s activities, a piercing sound thoughtlessly interrupted our conversation. It was the unmistakable clamor of a siren, and it was not far away. In fact, glancing into my rearview mirror, I saw a huge hook-and-ladder truck bearing down on us. No wonder it was so loud.
I pulled over as quickly as I could, and the truck screamed past us, shaking our car with its velocity. We sat there for a moment, collecting our thoughts from this loud interruption. In a moment my foot pressed the accelerator deep toward the floor. Above Bobbie’s predictable protests, my curiosity overwhelmed her need to make our Bible study on time. I had to find out where the truck was going. Has this ever happened to you?
In a few blocks, even before we reached the fire, we could see a huge glow in the early evening sky. And when we rounded the corner where the truck had now stopped, I saw something I had never seen before: a house on fire. I’ve seen smoke coming from house windows, but this was not one of those little, nuisance kitchen smolders. No, this was a house completely engulfed in flames.
Quickly pulling my car to the curb, we ran to the front yard of the across-the-street neighbors to watch. Flames rocketed seventy-five feet in the air. The popping and crackling of the towering inferno were almost deafening. We took a few steps back, as the heat was too much to handle even though we were one hundred feet from the house. “Wow,” was all my wife and I could say to each other. The authority and absolute intensity of the flames left us with nothing to say. In what seemed like only a few min- utes, the house was completely consumed. It was a horrific thing to see. Wow, indeed.
Love is serious business. In today’s text, it is likened to a blazing fire—“a almighty flame!” Love is “as strong as death,” King Solomon wrote. Nothing can quench it or wash it away.
We hear the word love spoken today. We may even speak it ourselves. But lest we consign this word to a child’s valentine or a hopeful teenager expressing himself in a love note, we cannot forget its unmistakable power.
“I love you” likely changed your life. Once a single man, free to move about at will, “I love you” inextricably bound you to one woman for the rest of your life. “I love you” gave you a child—a little person who relentlessly watches your every move, keeping you on the straight and narrow.
“I love you” forced you to confront your closest friend with his dishonesty, his secret bout with adultery. “I love you” cost you that friendship.
“I love you” opened our heavenly Father’s hand to welcome us—sinful as we were—to Himself. “I love you” gave us Jesus, who endured the cross for those sins.
“I love you” is about the serious stuff of life. Its impact changes people. Its radiating heat moves them back from their complacency. It alters their plans. Sometimes it renders them speechless.
You love your family. Your family loves you. Love’s fire changes everything. Don’t forget to speak the words. All three of them.