We live in a culture fascinated my love and romance. We see it everywhere around us: movies, tabloids, television shows, fairy tales. Everyone has a deep desire to experience the kind of love portrayed in made-up stories. There is no accident that we are drawn to such love. God created us with a desire to have an amazing love affair, but it was meant to be with Him first. When we seek to find love from an outside source instead of falling in love with Him, love can quickly become an idol in our lives.

One example that stands out to me is when I hear someone talking about searching for “Prince Charming” or their “knight in shining armor”. God is the only perfect love and we disappoint ourselves by looking for the perfect man among sinners. It is only when God is our first love that we can experience the type of love He desires for us. Anything less leads to unmet expectations, broken hearts, and broken relationships. No human was meant to meet all of our needs, but the lover of our souls can. Only He can fill the void.

Kyle Idleman says it this way:

Jesus My Identity

The God of romance came in and swept us off our feet. We fell head over heels for such a god. The music was playing. Our hearts were pounding. Our palms were sweating. Life was like a really corny, really wonderful movie that comes on TBS late at night.

We were in love with love, with the idea of a “soul mate,” someone custom-made for us. The two of us would create our own world and lock everyone else out. We would complete each other’s sentences, laugh at each other’s jokes, and stare into one another’s eyes.

But something went wrong. Once the giddiness wore off, we discovered that human beings are no more nor less than human beings. And ultimately human beings fall miserably short of being God.

No human being, we discovered, can meet all our needs. No human being deserves that much pressure. But Jesus can do it — Jesus our identity. It was wonderfully liberating to break free of the shackles of finding who we were in one person who could define for us what it meant to be alive. Jesus once said that no one has greater love than the one who will lay down his life for a friend. And then he proved it.