I kissed dating Jesus good-bye

So I'm single. I figure it's a good time to "invest in my relationship with God"--as I might have said some time ago. What an opportunity right? It's a win-win, either I become a better candidate for marriage to a nice, Christian boy or I get closer to God (aka never feel empty again). Some would term it "dating Jesus," this idea that God/Jesus will fill up the emptiness and loneliness inside us and I suppose this lasts until you find a real life person to date. I dunno about that stuff anymore.

Here's the thing I've found about loving Jesus: not only is it hard to conceptualize, it's a pretty hard thing to do alone. We want it to be this romantic thing so we do silly things like go on dates with Jesus, ballroom dance with Jesus, read Song of Solomon with Jesus (ew). After all, like a rose trampled on the ground, he took the fall and thought of me above all, right? I forget the reference, but I think that's in the Bible somewhere.

John 15 says that love looks like obedience. Not exactly romantic. Sometimes in this obedience God seems silent and slow to respond to us. Obedience is what brought Jesus to the cross. Obedience is what eventually caused Jesus to ask God why God had forsaken him. Yet Jesus goes on to say in John 15 that he told us to be obedient and to love God so that his joy would be in us and made complete in us. There is joy in faithfulness somewhere. There is joy in laying down your life for your friends. There is joy in the freedom that can only come through faithfulness to the Father.

So, my relationship with God is not exclusive; I am not God's bride--the church is. My faithfulness shows my love for God just as God's faithfulness first showed God's love for me. My faithfulness and love to God is expressed in my ministry and devotion to the church and to those who might belong to the church. Jesus is not my rebound. Jesus is my way, truth, and life; the example of love and faithfulness to the Father.