Song 2:1 “I am the rose of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys.”
Song 2:2 “Like a lily among the thorns,
So is my darling among the maidens.”
Song 2:3 “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
So is my beloved among the young men.
In his shade I took great delight and sat down,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Success or failure isn’t determined by what you put your hand to, but by what you put your heart to, in intimacy with God. Jesus from the Cross expressed God’s heart and will for us. When Jesus said “I thirst,” He was expressing God’s desire for us to receive His love, and to love Him back, with the same radical, life giving love that He loves us with. We are His rose, and His lily, and for us to embrace that truth with crazy love returned back to Him is His greatest possession. As He is our great prize, we are His. The affections of the human heart are His most prized, and precious possession.
The church in Ephesus was very successful church by any account. Every measurable was at the top of the graph to be called successful. The only problem was that God measures our lives by a different standard. He measures our heart; our love experienced and expressed toward Him. How confident you and I are in His love for us this moment, and the love we have for Him, in affection and obedience, alone determines our success. That is so liberating.