In 2005 John Mark McMillan wrote and released the song, “How He Loves” and thousands were divided over one verse in the song: “So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,..” Awakening imaginations to the idea of kissing Jesus. How wrong and weird is that? Yet it shines light on something lurking just beneath the surface. That being our own perversions, lusts, wickedness and quite frankly evil. The paradox is exposed: on the one hand we love the idea of Jesus’ passionate love for us, yet on the other hand we hate that His love exposes the darkness in us. That hurts. It creates discomfort, making us feel bad about ourselves. Yet Scripture states:  Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude]. Revelation 3:19

Ouch!!! None of that makes me get the “warm fuzzies.” Yet, in a “Me” centered culture people are often taken aback by any truth that seems to make them feel or look bad. They reason that a loving God would never make us feel bad about ourselves. Yet God’s Word, not our culture, reveals the higher truth: that from time to time, Jesus’ love and words are going to hurt and wound us deeply. “Those whom Jesus tenderly loves…He tells them their faults.” Though Jesus’ words have wounded me deeply at times, I rejoice that He loves me enough to bring it to my attention. (You should too) For without His correction, and wounding you can rest assured you do not really know Him. He is the TRUTH, and He is LOVE. Yet His LOVE does not take it’s direction from our cultures syrupy sweet version. Because He is LOVE He corrects, making us feel bad about ourselves. And that is the problem: SELF. The Bible teaches that our SELF hates God and the things of God.

Romans 8:7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.

Galatians 5:17 states: “For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.

We need to be perfectly clear, God HATES sin, our sin nature, and everything associated with it. Sin is what crucified Jesus. Thus at times our SELF is going to be offended, rebuked, hurt, wounded, and even angry at God’s TRUTH. But remember: Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are lavish and deceitful. Proverbs 27:6

Oswald Chambers, author of “My Utmost for His Highest,” writes: “We want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do…Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because YOU are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender…The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason.”

Remember this? “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:4-6 We rejoice that this prophecy is about Jesus and how He was punished for our sin so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life. What is often overlooked is verse 10: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin,…” It pleased the Lord to bruise Him??? Mull that offensive verse around in your mind and heart. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him in order to see our redemption and salvation. For my salvation and yours I am more than grateful that it pleased the Lord to have Jesus bruised for my sins. Praise God for His stripes and bruises. But we need to understand, it will also please the Lord to see our ego bruised, and our flesh crucified dead with Jesus’ crucifixion. That pleases the Lord and that is more than unpleasant – it makes me feel bad.

Lastly an odd verse pokes a hole in our cultural idea of love: Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Ps. 2:12

This Messianic prophecy regarding Jesus would cause many to respond, “I would gladly kiss Jesus for all He has done for me. For that matter I would kiss His feet wetting them with my tears of gratitude and thanksgiving.” Yet there’s a side to kissing Jesus that you need to understand: “..out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,..” Rev. 1:16 AND Rev. 1:15 His feet glowed like burnished (bright) bronze as it is refined in a furnace,..”

Whether we stand to kiss the Son, or bow down to kiss His feet, our passion for Jesus, just like His passion for us, is going to hurt, and at times make us feel pretty bad. Yet on the other end of that “kiss” is Perfect Love… (and a Sword and Fire.) Can you pray: “Keep wounding me Lord Jesus that I might live again in perfect love freeing me from the SELF that hates You and is antagonistic towards You. Grace to kiss You again and again. May heaven meet my earth with a sloppy wet kiss and may I respond with similar passion.”