Reading my old stories and the inspirations for my new ones I see a common thread—Christ’s love. Christ’s unconditional love is inspiring. Its what we base all our romantic movies on. The uncontrollable love felt by a lover in a movie pales in comparison to the love God has for us. God created marriage as a picture of his love (Eph. 5:32) thus it makes sense that all story for me should come out of a desire to copy that picture.
I am writing two love stories, which I intend as allegories for Christ’s love. One is based heavily upon my studies of Song of Solomon. The other is based upon a dream I believe the Lord gave me this summer. Each I think draws on different biblical models of Christ’s love as well as my experience of him.
I spent a lot of time as a theatre arts major in college discussing the human condition and how as Christian artists we should make that our focus. I think the human condition cannot be accurately represented without Christ’s love. He who spoke us into existence is the very same God who died for us. The gospel is so interwoven into who we are that it is futile to argue against Christian arts. To shut Christ’s love out of our artwork is to shut out man’s spirit from his bones.
Perhaps I have now hit a more theoretical or hyperbolical ground by speaking thus. But I am stirred. The gospel message is that there are two characters in history; not one. Not only are there lowly human beings suffering the affects of sin, but there is a God who died for those sins who desperately seeks relationship with these humans he created. In addition, the Bible calls the church his Bride (Rev. 22:17). The motif of the bridegroom longing for his bride is found throughout the Bible (Matt 9:15, Matt 22:2, Hosea 2:16, Isa 62:4-5). It is only fitting that we respond with that tension in our artwork and reveal the end of the story:
"Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready" (Rev 19:7).
"Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev 19:9).
“And like the sun after all of the rain’s gone. The morning without any cloud comes with a picture of your love. And when I think of the stars so high over me, the moon and the darkness lets everyone see a picture of your love.” --Luke Wood’s song Picture of Your Love
