Day 6: His Love is Better than Wine!

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is BETTER than wine...” Song of Solomon 1:2 (ESV)

Before I knew Jesus and the love of God, by the time I was just 17, I was getting drunk and high on drugs every day. I was addicted! But I wasn’t just addicted to the THC chemical or the alcohol content. I was addicted to feeling better for a moment. I was addicted to having “peace” and forgetting how lonely I was. I was addicted to “feeling good.” It’s not because I’m so holy that I’m not addicted to those substances anymore. I simply found something better. 

Sometimes I think God saved me when He did because He knew I would have gone even further over the edge than I already was. We were rescued by God’s love. We were swept up. We were the prodigal sons in the pigpen and the Father ran to us! It wasn’t our holiness or morality that brought us back to the Father. It was His mercy that drew us.

God’s peace, freedom, deliverance, and love are better than any substances that temporarily dull our pain. God’s love doesn’t just temporarily dull pain; it heals our pain.

I’ve counseled many people who have lost fortunes because of their addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, or some other habit. Receiving God’s love doesn’t cost you anything, but it cost Jesus everything. In an addictive life, the source of temporary pleasure costs you much. But God’s joy, peace, and love costs you nothing. You can drink and drink, but God never makes you pay the bill. His drinks of love and goodness are always ON THE HOUSE!

Unlike drugs and alcohol and other addictive substances, God’s love has no bad side effects. It only has good ones! It brings true happiness. It makes our faith work. It wins others to Him. And it heals!

When you taste His love, it makes you a better person, because you’re no longer trying to meet the needs, fill the voids, or heal the hurts with things the world can offer. You have been healed and satisfied by the love of Jesus and no longer put a demand on people or things to give you something you were designed to only receive from Him.

Most people don’t see God like this, so I pray the veil will be removed and we no longer see a God of religion, but the God of mercy, compassion, and grace—the God who is love.