Monday, April 06, 2009

How To Love God, and Kim Walker, I Sing My Love

Recently I've been getting tired of worship songs that focus on our love for God. It's not that I don't love God, it's that many of these songs miss the point. They are from an Old Covenant mindset of our obligation to love God and not the New Covenant way of loving God. In fact, when God defines love through John, he always starts with himself, never with us. We are the responders, we cannot love until and unless he loves us first!

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)


God is love. When we are in him, we love. When we believe in Jesus, we receive his love and then we have love to give. Ahhh, the simplicity!

So who of God's sons doesn't love to sing back in response to our father how much we love him? Once we have freely received his love for us, have experienced it, then we are free to love him back! If we try to love him under law, we will fail miserably and will not please his heart. We don't love God because we were commanded to but because he loved us first and our new nature was born to love him back! I feel like I keep repeating myself...

Anyway, I found this Kim Walker song and really like it. The verse is all about how God loves us and the chorus is our response, a beautiful picture of the love shared between Christ and his Bride I think. Hope you like it!



P.S. thanks to my husband for discussing these things with me passionately even though the rerun of the country music awards was on...

8 comments:

Alan Hiu said...

This is the cry of your spirit... I absolutely agree with you. We love because He first loves us! We tend to put the horse before the cart!

You are blessed!!!

lydia said...

Hey Sarah McMillan sings this too!! I love it!!

Ursula said...

Wait you gotta hear the one that they attempted to get me to sing LAST sunday...I just stood there....

Something about how bad the world is, how we can't take it anymore....and how Jesus needs to send His love...

I say no more....just ACK!!!!!

Dan Bowen said...

I was thinking about this post on my run ... and wondered if I can put in a plug for my favourite song of worship - "Draw Me Close to You" - and why it's been so banished from "orthodoxy" Christians.

I think you are spot on. Even songs of worship carry a hint of "something" that we can contribute, bring, offer, bribe, cajole, manipulate God into loving us more. But we CAN'T and He doesn't want it anyway!

So "Draw Me Close" offers nothing and asks for everything - I think;

"Draw me close to you, never let me go, I lay it ALL down again - to hear you say that I'm your friend.

You are my desire, no one else will do, cuz nothing else can take Your place - to feel the warmth of Your embrace.

Help me find the way - bring me back to You! You're all I want - You're all I've ever needed, You're all I want - help me know You are near!".

Yup - I think that is a song that offers nothing - because what do we have to offer anyway? Yet places it's entire hope and faith in a God who is so eager to bless and draw near!!

Jamie said...

Julie,

Our thoughts have beem running parallel!! LOL

Thought you might find my Kim Walker song GREAT too! :D

Great thought! He initiates; we respond! Always! Forever!

Jamie said...

been, been, been

Ack.

cucca said...

Im with you :) We love because He first loved us...It wasnt Peter who confessed that he would never leave Jesus that actually followed him all the way, but actually John who called himself "the diciple that Jesus loved", its interesting to see how the different perspectives get so totally different results. When we realise that we are loved by God things happen! His love is can not be compared by our love. It is His love for us that totally transforms us. Not our love towards him....


By the way I have a new fav song... it goes "We got the best dad in the whole world, in the whole world...." and on and on! Love it!! I feel like a child when I dance around in my appartment proclaiming that our Dad is the best!

Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clif_G0ZKPk

Stay blessed this easter!


ps: Please pray for me as Im going to speak at two easterconferences this weekend. This is the first time I visit these two churches and I will be preach about different aspects of grace... in all of the five meetings.One church is a traditonal lutheran church and on is a word of faith church. Read more on my blog, I will be posting post during the weekend aswell...

Nick Cameron said...

I love this! Thanks for sharing this song that I have never heard before - it's awesome!