In Tim Keller’s book Counterfeit Gods he talks about this concept of ‘Apocalyptic Love’. A concept that says once mankind lost faith in God and thus, lost any ultimate meaning, they sought to create that meaning by intensifying the meaning of romantic love. The idea that love is the absolute end all of everything—Apocalyptic love.

That term, for me, resonates. Although perhaps for slightly different reasons.

I’ve often listened to love songs and thought to myself, “I wish love really were like that”. In music and theater, romantic love is elevated to these impossible heights. To a place which I’m sure would be a profound experience. But, in truth, there is no experience between humans quite like that.

It seems like the grand romantic view of love is in part responsible for the huge number of divorces. As Keller puts it:

“We maintain the fantasy that if we find our one true soul mate, everything wrong with us will be healed. But when our expectations and hopes reach that magnitude… ‘the love object [becomes] god’. No lover, no human being, is qualified for that role. No one can live up to that. The inevitable result is bitter disillusionment.”

Bitter disillusionment. That’s what we all finally experience when we think we’ve found that apocalyptic love. We’re left disappointed, disillusioned and divorced.

The only place to find true apocalyptic love is in the Lord, in the proven and reliable love of Christ.