Series: Love
Heard any great love songs lately?
I drive a 1970 ford pickup with no radio. I was headed to a lunch meeting the other day and stopped at a light alongside a more modern ride (but not as stylish as mine!) that had really good speakers. Know what I mean? He was kind enough to play his music for the entire county. I couldn’t tell who was singing, but it went something like: “O baby, I love you, baby, baby, baby, you and me, yea, O baby; I would give it all up for you, because I love you…” You get the idea. I pulled into the restaurant thinking about how lyrics and melody join forces to drive home a point – to shape perspective.
One of the most popular words in musical lyrics of virtually every kind is the word love. Most of the time love is set in an emotional or romantic context. Literally thousands of songs set to all kinds of melodies celebrate, lament, and ponder the emotional aspect of love. Whether it’s a country or a pop rock song, the lyrics reach into our hearts and appeal to our feelings. Feelings are good in and of themselves. But, many of the song lyrics about love push emotion past principle. What we feel about someone or a situation is prioritized above what a principled perspective of the situation calls for. Who can forget the old country song lyric “If lov’n you is wrong, I don’t want to be right?” Pleasure is preferred over principle.
When I think about the biblical perspective of love, I am confronted with how different it is from how it is portrayed in the music industry and our culture in general. Mature love isn’t based on feelings. It is based on the gospel story and on the principles that grow out of it. I am humbled and awed every time I hear the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 22:2 God said to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will show you.” I stagger before the magnitude of that request. I respected Abraham before I had children. Four children later, my respect is exponentially greater! I can’t begin to imagine what he “felt” at that moment. He had to prepare a travel party and journey for three days. He had to travel and think about what he was about to do. As the story climaxes, God intervenes and stays Abraham’s hand. Soon afterward, God says, “…for now I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.” Abraham loved God more than anything. More than the questions that raced through his mind about the absurdity of God’s request. More than the tender moments he had shared with Isaac. More than the feelings that were beating down the door of his mind and pressuring him to question the sanity of such a request. He loved God with all of his heart, soul, strength and mind.
That kind of love is a long way from the radios and ipods of our day. As I write this I can’t help but think about some people I know who faced mature love moments in 2010 and how they exemplified principled love over the emotional unprincipled version we see in our culture. They chose the right words. They turned the other cheek. They said “no” in moments of temptation. They stood their ground in loneliness. They gave more than the hecklers around them and got overlooked when “atta boys” got passed out. They walked roads that others didn’t want to travel. John, Mary, Elizabeth, Lorrie, Colt, Payden, Carla, James, …and…well…you get the idea. I could list a hundred. They plodded on embracing what was right in moments that didn’t feel too good. They loved God and respected his calling of them more than abandoning their principles for a moment of fleshly gratification. And, God was watching. He has always noticed His people doing the extraordinary in the corners of everyday life. Peter reminded suffering people who were struggling to love the Lord in trying times: “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” A lot more is going on in moments of trial than meets the eye!
Loving like that is hard. It’s always been hard. But, the upside is beyond fantastic. It’s the stuff of the cross and resurrection. It’s what participating in the “fellowship of His sufferings” is all about. And, it is remarkably bright when it begins to take form in a world that sees so much of the other kind of love. I thank God for Abraham’s story. And, I thank God for other stories that happen around us everyday in the lives of people near and dear to us. People who show us how to live a love that is anchored in the majesty, grace and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Heard any great love songs lately?
I drive a 1970 ford pickup with no radio. I was headed to a lunch meeting the other day and stopped at a light alongside a more modern ride (but not as stylish as mine!) that had really good speakers. Know what I mean? He was kind enough to play his music for the entire county. I couldn’t tell who was singing, but it went something like: “O baby, I love you, baby, baby, baby, you and me, yea, O baby; I would give it all up for you, because I love you…” You get the idea. I pulled into the restaurant thinking about how lyrics and melody join forces to drive home a point – to shape perspective.
One of the most popular words in musical lyrics of virtually every kind is the word love. Most of the time love is set in an emotional or romantic context. Literally thousands of songs set to all kinds of melodies celebrate, lament, and ponder the emotional aspect of love. Whether it’s a country or a pop rock song, the lyrics reach into our hearts and appeal to our feelings. Feelings are good in and of themselves. But, many of the song lyrics about love push emotion past principle. What we feel about someone or a situation is prioritized above what a principled perspective of the situation calls for. Who can forget the old country song lyric “If lov’n you is wrong, I don’t want to be right?” Pleasure is preferred over principle.
When I think about the biblical perspective of love, I am confronted with how different it is from how it is portrayed in the music industry and our culture in general. Mature love isn’t based on feelings. It is based on the gospel story and on the principles that grow out of it. I am humbled and awed every time I hear the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 22:2 God said to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will show you.” I stagger before the magnitude of that request. I respected Abraham before I had children. Four children later, my respect is exponentially greater! I can’t begin to imagine what he “felt” at that moment. He had to prepare a travel party and journey for three days. He had to travel and think about what he was about to do. As the story climaxes, God intervenes and stays Abraham’s hand. Soon afterward, God says, “…for now I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.” Abraham loved God more than anything. More than the questions that raced through his mind about the absurdity of God’s request. More than the tender moments he had shared with Isaac. More than the feelings that were beating down the door of his mind and pressuring him to question the sanity of such a request. He loved God with all of his heart, soul, strength and mind.
That kind of love is a long way from the radios and ipods of our day. As I write this I can’t help but think about some people I know who faced mature love moments in 2010 and how they exemplified principled love over the emotional unprincipled version we see in our culture. They chose the right words. They turned the other cheek. They said “no” in moments of temptation. They stood their ground in loneliness. They gave more than the hecklers around them and got overlooked when “atta boys” got passed out. They walked roads that others didn’t want to travel. John, Mary, Elizabeth, Lorrie, Colt, Payden, Carla, James, …and…well…you get the idea. I could list a hundred. They plodded on embracing what was right in moments that didn’t feel too good. They loved God and respected his calling of them more than abandoning their principles for a moment of fleshly gratification. And, God was watching. He has always noticed His people doing the extraordinary in the corners of everyday life. Peter reminded suffering people who were struggling to love the Lord in trying times: “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” A lot more is going on in moments of trial than meets the eye!
Loving like that is hard. It’s always been hard. But, the upside is beyond fantastic. It’s the stuff of the cross and resurrection. It’s what participating in the “fellowship of His sufferings” is all about. And, it is remarkably bright when it begins to take form in a world that sees so much of the other kind of love. I thank God for Abraham’s story. And, I thank God for other stories that happen around us everyday in the lives of people near and dear to us. People who show us how to live a love that is anchored in the majesty, grace and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.
O Father, everyday we can feel the pull of cultural messages and influences toward a version of love that is so contrary to who you are. Fortify our hearts with your kind of love and teach us through your word and through the examples we see in other believers how to give ourselves over to a love that honors you in all that we do. Assure our hearts of the blessing that is found in this kind of love. It is through the One who loved us all the way we give you our thanks....Amen.
Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas
Hmmm.... It think I get your point. It seems that the deep love that you're speaking of comes from purposed preparation. The kind of love that comes from a well that is only filled by God through community with His people and Him. This love response is not just going to happen as we hope that it will; It can only come from an anchored relationship in the community of Christ.
ReplyDeleteHere is the deal or part of the deal. If I (we) are to respond people, ourselves, and situations with deep love then I (we) must become serious about sacrifice and the cost of discipleship. Abraham was serious. Do you think that Abraham ever imagined how his choices, how his Faith would bless Creation? Do you ever think the twelve that followed Jesus did? What do you believe God could do with 48 or 96 or 700 that were committed and loved like those 13? I am sure, I can't imagine either!
Randy, thanks for calling us to travel the narrow road,
Peace,
Lance