This last few weeks I’ve been reading Song of Songs and it has certainly been quite a journey between pretty strong imagery, and an arousal of images picturing the love Christ has for his church, and that of a love between a man & a women.

Is there a healthy way to few arousel? As a Christian can I be aroused by something and not be in sin? For sure, it’s all to easy to get aroused by love, or is it lust. And I think most of us would agree love or lust has a fine line between the two!

The bible has a lot to say about the heart. It’s evil tendency desiring to go where it wants. Even sexuality is fluid and whatever we set our mind too for too long it’ll become normalised.

Consider this: where are emotions are at our heart goes after, with a desire to want to know more. Yet we have a choice, lust says just go after the emotion and the feeling, where love will desire to build postively for the future, and the well-being of both in the relationship to move towards preferring one another encouraging each other’s destiny & purpose.

So how does this speak into a more correct view of arousel? How does it set in motion towards the building of a right and healthy relationship?

The scripture I’ve focused on in Song of Songs, is found in 8:4:

“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”

Song of Songs‬ ‭8:4‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

Reflect on this for a moment; and why 8:4 says to the daughters & remember as Christians we are the Bride of Christ (men included!) applies to us also! Could this be a warning not to allow love to be awaken too soon? For example, it is all too easy to look in all the wrong places we are told to listen to our heart but that can deceive us, so we need to instead to listen to our heart filled with the Holy Spirit.

In today’s culture we are bombarded with fake-news left, right & centre yet I believe there is also such a thing as fake-love or arousel, built on wrong foundations of lust, money, or pride, rather than selfless concern, humility and a real sense of love to be awakened to build a healthy sustaining relationship.

Finally consider how our relationships arouse us to prefer one another. When we need to wait especially if we’re looking in all the wrong places.

Today, for me I desire to daily choose holiness living in an attitude of repentance and receiving his forgiveness and to ask for God’s protection to keep me strong amidst temptation. It’s not easy but asking the Lord to fill us with His love, his Holy Spirit to live in away to bring joy to God’s heart. A scripture i engraved on the inside of my purity ring is always with me – “I have hidden his word in my heart that I might not sin against you” Psalm 119v11