Close, But No Cigar

Especially for us younger generation, the thoughts, ideas, and daydreams of romance, marriage, and love tend to be rather at the forefront of our minds.

Just admit it.

We can give lots of good, solid biblical reason for it, and lots of them are truly legit.

But what about the world? Lately I have kinda been wondering at the vast obsession of lovers and romance, physical, and emotional. Being ' in love ' is right next door to being ' in heaven '.

Why the hype? Honestly, relationships can be painful, and the world usually tend to try to ward off pain with a ten foot stick slathered in GMO's and Corn Syrup. They are always looking for the ultimate romance, the ultimate fill in the next lover, the next moonlight night, the next long kiss, the next .... yeah, I'll stop there.

 But despite all the hearts and arrows, I think the rest of the world might be closer to the answer than they, or we, realize.

We tend to bash the rest of the world for being so obsessed with romance and love (again, emotional and physical) that we miss the vast point that drives the whole situation, and it puts the world in a different light altogether. And in fact, many of them got the boat while we flounder in the water after missing the pier completely.

God says that he instituted marriage - romance and the whole sheebang included - as a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church. A picture of our relationship with God.

Relationships.

Romances are really about relationships. Deep, loving, caring, relationships.

For the unsaved person, that is as good as it gets in this world - they have no relationships with God, so the next best thing is with each-other.

They actually got closer to the heart message of life than many of us Christians. They have found (even if they don't realize it) that nothing is quite as good as a good relationship.

And what do most of us Christians harp over way too often?

Say it....

Rules.

Can't have tattoos. Can't go out dates. Can't have boyfriends. Can't wear makeup. Can't drink.

You know the lineup - all the things we harp and obsess over, and have a hissyfit around when someone else disagrees, or even worse, crosses the line, because we all know the world will cease to orbit the sun, the mountain will cave in, and the seas will turn to molten magma if the Jones' decide to drink a beer on the lawn.

Now don't get me wrong - I am never saying rules are a bad thing, by a long stretch, I am just saying that the Christian world tends to hang limbo there and squawk at anyone who doesn't have their monkey-bars spaced the same distance apart.

But it is so much more than that.

Christianity is about nothing more than relationships, and how Christ came to ultimately fix our broken relationship with him, and we can then have good relationships with everyone else down here because of our relationship with him.

Sure, there are rules - God made them, so I can't exactly argue can I? Of course we need to obey them.
Just saying.

But one of the biggest reason why we are commanded not to sin, is that it ruins our relationship with God. It was our sin in the garden that ruined our relationship with God in the first place.

See? The world, in all their sensual driven madness, was close, so close, to the ultimate answer. They know (for the most part....) that it can't be in stuff - even big boys with their big boy toys want to have their guy and girl friends out with them on the water and on the dunes.

They just missed who the relationship is with.

We happen to know, and can benefit from that relationship in more ways than we yet know, but we certainly have no right to look down on the world for their drive towards romance.

They know, and are trying as hard as they can to find the ultimate relationship, but can't because the only ultimate relationship is to be had with God - any other relationship will eventually let you down.

They are so close.

But, quoth the old adage, no cigar.