Daily Devotional For Thursday, June 4, 2026
Good morning and good day Southside. Our text for today comes from Song of Solomon 8:7:
“Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned” (NLT).
This passage addresses the question, “What is love?” What is love to you? It seems everyone has their own definition. Singer Pat Benatar said “love is a battlefield” (Source: Pat Benatar, Love Is A Battlefield, written by Holly McKnight and Mike Chapman © 1983 Chrysalis Records). Many people can relate to this one. If you have been married for a while, no one else has the power of a spouse to provoke, exasperate and hurt you deeply. If you are singer Bette Midler, then “love is a seed hiding beneath the bitter snow that when exposed to the sunshine in the spring will finally become a rose” (Source: Bette Midler, “The Rose,” written by Amanda McBroom © 1979 Atlantic Records).
If you have ever gardened, you know the likelihood of that happening is nil. The chances of planting a seed in the fall and getting rose in the spring is about as likely as you finding a lamp, rubbing it, a genie pops out and offers you 3 wishes. In the real world, roses are grafted from existing stems and brought to nurseries, not grown from seeds. But we could take Bette Midler’s song to imply that love is beautiful and desirable but in the end it is elusive. It is hard to find.
IN THE 1960S a young woman named Kim Grove was engaged to a young man named Roberto Casali. Before they were married, Kim would write little love notes and slip them into Roberto’s fishing box, his back pocket, or whatever secret place she could find. Her notes were simple. Each one featured a drawing of this chubby, childlike couple—a man with dark black hair and a woman with blonde hair, both modestly undressed. And beneath each drawing was a short inscription, which always began “Love is.…”
“Love is … the right word. Love is … giving each other silly pet names. Love is … someone who makes you weak in the knees. Love is … counting every single freckle. Love is … showing her the house where you spent your childhood. Love is … making her queen. Love is … keeping a light burning for him. Love is … patching up a quarrel. Love is … telling her she looks wonderful on a down day. Love is … like wine, better as it matures. Love is … when the passion slows down and the friendship speeds up” (Source: Kim Casali, Love Is In Bloom).
Years ago I came across this little ode describing love:
“Love is swell, It’s so enticing. It’s orange jello-It’s strawberry icing. It’s chocolate russe, It’s roasted goose. It’s ham on rye, It’s banana pie. Love’s all good things without a question, In other words -- it’s indigestion!” (Source: Love is . . .).
Song of Solomon 8:6 says, “Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol (grave); Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the Lord” (NASB). When we see the word “jealousy,” we often think this is the wrong attitude. There is some jealousy that is not wrong. If a spouse is giving too much time and attention to someone else or something else other than their spouse. Some things and some relationships are not meant to be shared. Song of Solomon 8:7 pictures a friendship between a married couple that is so strong, it cannot be broken. Love, especially the love of God, is strong. Why? 1 John 4:8b, “God is love” (NASB). God does not possess love; He is love. There is a big difference folks.
“Early in his life G. K. Chesterton wrote to his future wife, Frances, “You say you want to talk to me about death: my views about death are bright, brisk and entertaining.… The transformation called Death may be something as beautiful and dazzling as the transformation called Love” (Source: From Peter Washington, ed., Love Letters, Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets, p. 162).”
Precisely! In Jesus, love has conquered death, and thus death is the doorway to eternal life and eternal love, love as we have never experienced it before—free of sin and sickness, temptations and trials.
"B. B. Warfield was one of the great minds in the history of the church. He was professor of theology at Princeton from 1887–1921 and was well-known for his writings on the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. But what is not as well known is how he cared for his wife. At age twenty-five Warfield married, and he and his wife, Annie, went to Germany for their honeymoon. There Annie was struck by lightning and was paralyzed for life. Warfield spent almost forty years caring for her. In fact, all those years he never left his home for more than a few hours at a time” (Source: See Roger Nicole, “B. B. Warfield and the Calvinist Revival,” in John D. Woodbridge, ed., Great Leaders of the Christian Church, p. 344).
Click on this link (link: 1 Corinthians 13:4-13) to take a moment and read God’s definition of love. As you do, insert your own name in the place of the word “love.” Does this describe you?
Reflection Assignment: How do you define love? After reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-13, how does your definition of love compare to God’s? Do you love this way? Why or why not? Where do you need improvement? What do you think of the words of G. K. Chesterton and the life of B.B. Warfield? Take a moment to write out your own definition of love.
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Corinthians 16:14, “Let all that you do be done in love” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I want to live out Your definition of love every day. I want Your Holy Spirit to produce the spiritual fruit of love in me. I want to love as You love. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly