Is Jesus Better?

The Song of Solomon is an often neglected and mistreated book of the Old Testament. Theologians have labored in finding its significance and preachers have abused its context in making it mean what it does not. Some have even developed end-times theologies based upon the “bride paradigm” and believe that the book unlocks mysteries that promote a deeper and more intimate relationship with Christ. In reality, the Song of Solomon is a poem about two lovers who celebrate the joy their marital relationship. This however, does not mean that there are no parallels that reflect upon our relationship with Christ. After all, we are the Bride of Christ and He is the Lover of Our Souls. Paul explained in Ephesians 5 that marriage is a reflection of one’s relationship with Christ. It is our earthy institution that best explains our heavenly relationship with Christ (v.31-32). With this in mind, the Song of Solomon provides some challenges for the reader in the area of evaluating one’s passion for Christ.

One verse in particular, brings a great deal of conviction when I ponder its implications in my relationship with Christ. The author writes, “How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others that you charge us so?” (Song of Solomon 5:9). The woman in this passage was passionately seeking after her lover and begged for her friends to join her in the pursuit of finding him. Their response in our vernacular would have sounded more like, “What makes him so great? What makes him so different that you’re asking us to join you in your pursuit?” I believe that this is a fair question for those friends to ask. After all, it is the middle of the night and the woman is asking her friends for quite a commitment on their part. Although we would most likely not ask our friends to help us chase down someone who we are madly in love with, we would ask others to consider following us as we follow after the Lover of Our Soul----and this is where this passage begins to convict.

As Christians, we make certain claims about Jesus. We believe Him to be the most important part of our lives. We believe His Word to be true and that He keeps that Word. We believe Him to be our strength, sufficiency, comfort, joy, and even our Healer. We believe that He is God Almighty and that He is to be worshiped with all of our heart. The problem lies that when others look at our lives, does our example answer the question of “How is your beloved better than others…how is your beloved better than others that you charge us so?” We make claims that we are worshipers of Jesus, but do the actions, attitudes, and activities we choose to participate in reflect those claims? I can say that living for Jesus is “better” than choosing to live for this world but if my life does not look any different from those choosing to NOT live for Christ, then who am I kidding? This extends well past the idea that “because I go to church” I show how much Jesus means to me mentality. A passion for Christ that screams “HE IS BETTER THAN ALL ELSE” is something that needs to be a part of every fabric of my life---otherwise I live as a hypocrite. Jesus did not claim that He was “the way for some of life, the truth for only what I choose to believe, and the life when only I want to act like someone who loves Christ.” No, He said He is “THE way, THE truth, and THE life!” (John 14:6).

In George Barna’s book Growing True Disciples, he conducted a study which discovered that for the most part, professing Christians are no different in beliefs, actions, and attitudes in life than non-believers. And yet, these same Christians also make the claim that “Jesus is better than all else.” The simple truth is that we cannot claim to be “following after Jesus” while living as those who do not follow after Jesus. If Jesus is “more” than all else in this life, then our example would fully promote that. We would not be focused upon the priorities of pursuing wealth, materialism, fashion, entertainment, success, and questionable indulging that identifies us with worldly living. Rather, we would show with our lives that Jesus has “another way” of living. Those who choose to follow that way will easily be able to answer the question of “What makes Jesus better than the life I already have?” In fact, they won’t have to speak a word to answer that question as the life that passionately pursues Jesus will be evident and DIFFERENT from anything this world has to offer!