“Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.”; “stay me up with flowers, encompass me with apples, because I languish with love.”; “your lips are a dropping honey-comb, honey and milk are under your tongue, and the smell of your garments is as the smell of frankincense.”

Can you think of words more pleasing and sweeter? These words are delightful. Can they possible be spiritual as well as romantic?

Can we put these words together to describe the spiritual? This may be the reason we like these words. They speak to both parts of our nature. It’s a thing that fills us with wonder.

We heard words from Jesus that are difficult to process. When we read words from the Song of Solomon that are almost embarrassing to hear, do we turn the page or try to use them to find the spiritual meaning? The first is a hard saying. The second is too much to be polite. Try reading those passages from Song of Solomon out loud at your next meeting.

Yet, we are told that both speak of a spiritual relationship with God. So important is an intimate relationship with you that God will use any means to get you into that love relationship.

Why does the first commandment tell us to love the Lord your God with all…?
Why does Jesus use himself to give a new commandment? Love each other as I have loved you. Because God knows no other relationship. It is love or nothing with him. He knows you and he loves you. He knows you have done wrong and he forgives you. He knows you have been far away and he wants you close to him.

This is the story of God and man: God made man like himself. Man chose to go away from God. God has always wanted to bring the man back to himself. He wants a deeper relationship with you than he had with Adam.

We think of Adam as perfect, and he was. But he was perfect in innocence. And he did not know God very well. How can I say that? If he trusted God, he would not have eaten the fruit of the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil. He would have remembered the words of God and withstood the wily creature. I mean the serpent not Eve. If he had loved God, he would have not chosen to eat from that tree and put his relationship with God in question.

Both Adam and Eve blame others. He blames her. She blames the serpent. Neither is sufficient for God. He gave his word to them not to any other creature. Nor will he accept that Eve is all at fault. You notice neither one accepts any blame.

What is true is that Adam and Eve were not in a final state. We are more knowledgeable of Jesus than they were. We know what he said and did. And we have been given a gift greater that innocence. We have been given his Spirit. Yes, the Spirit of God lives within us. Not so for them.

It reads, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2

He had life as a living soul. There was no reason for him to die. He had the Tree of Life available to him.

So, we have a way to connect with God that Adam did not. And we understand more of the nature of God. He wants to give us eternal life, better than Adam had. He wants to have a closer relationship with us than Adam had.

We don’t know how the path of Adam could have gone. We do know how to reconnect to God. Jesus explained it. God has removed all obstacles to getting close to him. We have, like Adam, no excuse.

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