Is Romance Important to God?

Is Romance Important to God?

That’s a dangerous question to ask today. It’s dangerous for at least two reasons. First, many people find it easy to think that their romantic life isn’t very important to God, especially if they aren’t sinning in their romance. Second, more and more people today are single out of choice, circumstances, or a bit of both.

God Cares About Romance

Many people think that God cares only about one thing when it comes to romance: Don’t sin. Of course, God cares about sin in our romantic life just as He does in any other area. But God cares about much more when it comes to romance; He wants romance to be a great blessing to humanity.

1 Kings 4:32 tells us that King Solomon of ancient Israel composed some 1,005 songs. One of his songs was greater than all the rest, and it was regarded as his “song of songs.” That number one song is called the Song of Solomon.

This is one of the strangest books of the Bible. This collection of poetic love songs stands apart from most every other book of the Bible. If the Song of Solomon was not in our Bible and we were to discover it as an ancient document from the time of Solomon, it is unlikely that we would include it in the collection of Old Testament books.

God did include it. The Song of Solomon is mainly a celebration of passionate romance and love in both its frustration and fulfillment. The fact that this “greatest of all songs” focuses on romance and marital love shows us what a high regard God has for the institution of marriage. We might expect that the songs of songs be a song that only praises God instead of one that celebrates love and sensuality within marriage.

God cares so much about romance that He devoted one book of the Bible almost entirely to it. Every couple – a man and woman married or on their way to marriage – should realize that romance is a gift from God. It’s something so good that often a spiritual battle must be fought to walk in the romantic fulfillment God intends.

Romance Makes a Terrible God

The Song of Solomon is one example from the Bible that shows how much God cares about romance. Yet the Bible also shows us that those who are unmarried have their own advantage in life before God. It’s true that the married enjoy the gift of romance in a way the unmarried do not; but the New Testament shows us that the unmarried state can be good and sometimes preferable for God’s people.

Jesus pleased God and lived a fulfilled life, yet was never married. This was also true of the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 7:7). Jesus also said that the unmarried state for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven could be good (Matthew 19:11-12). Paul recognized that singleness could be an advantage in a time of distress (1 Corinthians 7:26).

Some are unmarried by choice, and others by circumstance (that they hope will change). Either way, the unmarried person should never feel second-class among God’s people. They are – perhaps for just a season – in the same class as Jesus and the Apostle Paul. That’s pretty good company.

All this leads us to understand that romance is a wonderful gift from God; but it makes a poor god in itself. When it is pursued and lived outside of God’s plan for marriage it becomes a dangerous idol.

Is romance important to God? Yes it is, and more of us should look for God’s blessing and fulfillment in our romantic life. At the same time, romance isn’t the most important thing and like everything else in our life before God, our romantic life must be completely surrendered and submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.