You know, Christians are people too. I think we often forget that in our faithful pursuit of righteousness, romance can waltz right into our lives. Today we look to popular worship band Casting Crowns for guidance on this confusing issue as we spelunk the romantic caverns of their passion-filled love song, “Your Love Is Extravagant.”

Let’s peer into the first and only verse to see if we can glean some wisdom about Christian infatuation: “Your love is extravagant/ Your friendship, mmmm intimate/I find I’m moving to the rhythm of your grace /Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place/Cause your love is extravagant” What a blessing this song is, isn’t it? It just stirs up the emotions. The first line brings to us a wonderful description of the speaker’s feelings; the love of the other is not just really cool or sweet, it’s extravagant. I’d love to hear a girl tell me that, can I get an Amen? I mean, I wouldn’t just respond with a “thanks” like Ryan Atwood on the O.C., I’d be like “wow, your love is pretty extravagant too.”

Next we see that this couple did what Mom always tells us to do – they were friends before they were lovers. But you know what? Their friendship wasn’t enough. It was “mmmm intimate.” That’s pretty hot and heavy. You can’t just stay friends when you’re “mmmm intimate,” you gotta hold hands and stuff, take it to the next level.

Moving on, we can tell that these two obviously danced together, as the speaker notes that he’s moving “to the rhythm of [her] grace.” I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud – dancing isn’t a sin or whatever – but I think that line is a little too sexual. It just makes me think of hips. Dear Casting Crowns: Read 1st Corinthians Chapter Eight! Am I right?! Seriously! Anyway, the next line also has some ambiguously sexual notes to it, but you can read it without that if you want to. She obviously wore some great perfume since the speaker describes it as “intoxicating.” Then the speaker says “in our secret place.” Let’s throw the brakes on here, alright? He probably just means their favorite Starbucks, not the back of his mom’s minivan where they engage in sinful eroticism while listening to The Bloodhound Gang. So that’s no big deal. Then the speaker closes off the song with a reprise of that passionate phrase: “cause your love is extravagant.” Pretty magnificent romantic poetry; I feel inspired and uplifted.

Oh yeah, then there’s the chorus that has some line in there about Christ that totally doesn’t fit with all of the other superficially mushy lyrics. But I think we can ignore that and focus on what matters here: Romance.