“All You Need Is Love.” So sang a British Boy Band in 1967. Of course, they meant fuzzy, warm feelings – and lots of sex. The adolescent world at the time went crazy with the song and the band. And the reason for the overnight, screaming success of the song and the band was that both touched a chord deep within the souls of their listeners, their now-admirers, their now-devotees. It was a spiritual experience. It rang profoundly true, like a long-lost secret, now suddenly unveiled to a young, pubescent audience yearning for the essence of human living. And there it was, spelled out so clearly in the lyrics of a song!
Yes, it was spiritual. It sounded clearly like the answer to the burning question on every young heart. And it was that answer, if only it had been in the right context, with the capital ‘L’ love meaning the Love found in Jesus, the Love Jesus came to bring, the Love that was Jesus. But the love indicated in the song, that is, the love between two individuals, was not enough, could not be enough, could never come through with all that the fierce, youthful craving. For that matter, no lesser love than the pure, eternal love of Jesus can come through for us, either, regardless of our age.
Until we stand complete in Jesus, finally whole, Love can never be fully understood, fully investigated, fully dissected. It is a mystery of eternal, epic proportions. But the great thing is that we’ve been given the Holy Spirit to help us live into it until that day comes. Having just read the astonishing letters from Jesus to the seven churches, my heart continues to be overwhelmed by the immensity and purity of his Love. Once his, it seems safe to say that we are perpetually surrounded, immersed, weighed down with, his Love for us, despite our behavior, despite our sinfulness, despite our wayward lifestyles, in short, despite who we are. No, that last part is not right. Once his, who we are is a new Creation. Who we are is someone whose old nature has been superseded by the new Creation we’ve been made to become. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV. How’s that for mystery??
Jesus is the Lover of your soul and my soul. What, then, are we to do about that? Deal with it! Affectionately, PD
*by Charles Wesley, born December 18, 1707
