Together in Christ: 'Not Letting Little Things Ruin the Main Thing' — Song of Solomon 2:15

Many of us know the phrase, "Death by a thousand cuts." The point of this saying is similar to our proverb on love from the Song of Solomon. Serious loving relationships between men and women face an onslaught of small challenges and distractions. Many of those slights are insignificant in isolation from other distractions. We can easily dismiss them as unimportant and never resolve, correct, eliminate, or address them with each other. Over time, however, they add up, and couples drift apart or carry the accumulation of these minor wounds. Love is lost like a vineyard loses a few grapes each day to several foxes, then one day, the vineyard is bare of fruit.

The message for you and me is unmistakable. We must not let "little problems" fester. Don't accumulate a series of minor hurts without addressing and correcting them. Don't neglect those we love, even if those feel like "minor neglects" in our eyes. Loving someone means we are vigilant in seizing every opportunity to delight the other person, affirm their significance to us, and demonstrate that our love for them is second only to honoring God.

While the apostle Paul used this language for our relationship with our church leaders, his words are equally applicable to all of our loving relationships:

Hold them in the highest regard in love... Live in peace with each other.^[1]