Love Lifted Me!

Old Jerusalem Mezuzah P1050664 

'Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever.' Psalms 136:1

 

On the doorpost of every Jewish home is the ‘Mezuzah’, which is fixed at a 45 degree angle. This is a piece of parchment (often contained in a decorative case) inscribed with specified verses comprising the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael". This prayer is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9,

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”.

A mezuzah is not meant to be a protective device, it is a sign and reminder of  God's covenant with His people. To Christians, God's covenant is anchored by Love in action. 

The word for love in the Old Testament is khesed in Hebrew. It conveys the idea of unconditional love, loyalty and generosity - a love that never fails. This is a love that endures forever, a phrase that is used 26 times in Psalms 136, which provided a litany of the wondrous acts of God for His people. Each verse ends with 'His love endures forever' to convey the unending love that resulted in many actions of God for His people. 

It is befitting that Moses in Deuteronomy was instructed not only to remember the commandment, but to impress upon the children and succeeding generations, in a very relentless way, the love of and for God. That Love is to be expressed most tenaciously, taught every time and every where, in all the places.

Similarly in Matthew 22:36 when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, He replied, 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

In putting across the two commandments in one breath, Jesus introduces the concept that love is not just a religious action but a social action as well, that is love must be seen and done.

The discourse with Jesus led to telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan and in so doing, Jesus is saying that love of God, to be meaningful has to be expressed by love for neighbour. God loves us so we can love our neighbours. 

'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His love for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.' 1 John 3:16-18

This dual-action love should define our Christian living. It is the realisation that Jesus rescued us from the depths of sin and despair; restored us so that we can live lives of love in action. Love Lifted Me!

I was sinking deep in sin

Far from the peaceful shore

Very deeply stained within

Sinking to rise no more

But the master of the sea

Heard my despairing cry,

From the waters lifted me

Now safe am I

Love lifted me! Love lifted me!

When nothing else could help

Love lifted me

Love lifted me! Love lifted me!

When nothing else could help

Love lifted me

All my heart to Him I give

Ever to Him I'll cling

In His blessed presence live

Ever His praises sing

Love so mighty and so true

Merits my soul's best songs

Faithful, loving service, too

To Him belong

Souls in danger look above

Jesus completely saves

He will lift you by His love

Out of the angry waves

But the master of the sea

Billows His will obey

He your savior wants to be

Be saved today

Love lifted me! Love lifted me!

When nothing else could help

Love lifted me

Love lifted me! Love lifted me!

When nothing else could help

Love lifted me

Yes, Love Lifted Us!

Lionel

All You Need Is Love

'Love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love.' 1 John 4:7-8

Modern society especially its entertainment industry has a fixation on love. It is a theme that draws and tugs at the heartstrings of young lovers. For a brief moment in life they can revel in its romance.

In July 1967, the Beatles released a single, All You Need is Love, at the first live global broadcast by satellite in the international TV programme, One World. This was at the height of the Hippie movement, the eclectic flower children, which culminated in the Summer of Love in 1967. More than 100,000 young people camped at San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood wearing hippie style outfits, sporting long hair, listening to hippie music, some smoking pot while others shooting hallucinogenic drugs. It was a celebration of love. 

All You Need Is Love expresses with very simple lyrics, the celebration of love.     

Love, love, love

Love, love, love

Love, love, love

There's nothing you can do that can't be done

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung

Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game

It's easy

Nothing you can make that can't be made

No one you can save that can't be saved

Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time

It's easy

All you need is love

All you need is love

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need

There's nothing you can know that isn't known

Nothing you can see that isn't shown

There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be

It's easy

It did not last. By the end of that summer many participants left the scene, resumed school studies, got jobs and started on their careers. The realities of having to make a livelihood forced them to abandon these feelings of love in order to face the uncertain future. Like the hippies in the 1960s, many young lovers will soon realise that romantic love can be fleeting.

But, the need to love and be loved remains. This song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love emphatically states this reality.   

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It's the only thing that there's just too little of

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

No not just for some but for everyone.

Lord, we don't need another mountain

There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb

There are oceans and rivers enough to cross

Enough to last till the end of time 
 

Lord we don't need another meadow

There are cornfield and wheatfields enough to grow

There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine

Oh listen Lord, if you want to know

Comparing these two songs, one should notice that the second recognises God and realises there isn't enough of this kind of love - 'the only thing that there's just too little of.' 

In his sermon at Aldersgate Convention Singapore on 22 May 2021, Bishop Gordon Wong brought this love of God to our attention. Speaking on the passage of the love of God in 1 John Chap 4, Bishop Wong (and the apostle John) made a few points that are worth repeating

• Love with the Love of God. In asking us to love one another, the reason is presented that love comes from God. If we do not love we actually do not know God either, for God is Love (1 John 4:7,8). To love somebody, we rely on the love God has for us (1 John 4:16)

• Love God by loving others. John states that Jesus Christ has given us a command, anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. Put in a negative way, anyone who does not love their brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1 John 4:20,21)

• Love without fear. This means we should love unreservedly. We need not fear of loving too much or giving too much or have a fear of being made used of when we love someone. There is no need to fear in giving love. (1 John 4:18)

Bishop Wong went on to say that the love of God is in us; this is Perfect Love. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning understood this perfect love as she expresses her love to her husband in Sonnet 43 How Do I Love Thee?. She moved from romantic love to spiritual love. She posited that true love is everlasting, all-encompassing, surpassing time, space and death.  

Elizabeth's love is Agape Love, Christian Love. The Love of God starts a relationship of love in every Christian and connects us to an everlasting community of love not just for one brief summer of love.

Lionel

Let Your Love Flow



Let Your Love Flow Like A Mountain Spring

"Love one another because I loved you first" John 4:19

The Shiraito Falls is in the Karuizama-maci in the Nagano Prefecture. It is the spring head of the Yukawa River and flow like white threads rolling down the the rock face. The source of water comes from rainfall on Mount Asama and it penetrates the earth, travels underground only to surface as the Shiraito Falls an estimated six years later. It is a never ending flow of water, it seems, never drying up.

On 3 October 2018, Pat, Christine (my sister) and I went in search of Shiraito Falls. We almost could not find it as the road leading to it was not clearly signposted. Then we had to walk into a forest before we came to an opening. The scene that greeted us was quite unique, a long stretch of crystal clear water flowing down a low embankment like bridal veils. As I stood there enjoying the misty sprays of cold water a catchy refrain, 'Let your love flow like a mountain spring' came to mind. The same expression of love as flowing water is used by the Bible in the Song of Songs 4:15, when describing a lover, 'You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.'    

The Bellamy Brothers, Homer and David, released 'Let Your Love Flow' in 1976. People see this as a romantic popular song.  However, the Bellamy Brothers come from a Christian background and started off their career in Gospel music. "Gospel was really the first thing we sang," Homer said, recalling early performances at a nearby church growing up in Florida. Hence this song Let Your Love Flow also celebrates the Love of God, a forever fresh love that flows like the mountain spring.

There's a reason for the sun shiny sky

And there's a reason why I'm feelin' so high

Must be the season

When that love light shines all around us

So let that feelin' grab you deep inside

And send you reelin' where your love can't hide

And then go stealin'

Through the summer nights with your lover

Just let your love flow like a mountain stream

And let your love grow with the smallest of dreams

And let your love show

And you'll know what I mean, it's the season

Let your love fly like a bird on the wing

And let your love bind you to all living things

And let your love shine

And you'll know what I mean, that's the reason

There's a reason for the warm sweet nights

And there's a reason for the candle lights

Must be the season

When those love rites shine all around us

So let that wonder take you into space

And lay you under its loving embrace

And feel the thunder as it warms your face

You can't hold back.

This song describes the Joie d'Vivre (Joy of Living) that stems from the love of God whenever we can express it.

In the 1970s, there was a popular small booklet written by a Walter Tobisch entitled 'Love is a Feeling to be Learned.' It is an advisory book on love and courtship but the title, is intriguing. Love is a feeling to be learnt? One usually thinks that love just happens, spontaneous and inexplicable; sometimes defying reason - so how could it be learnt? As we grow older, it will start to dawn on us that love is often learnt and the knowledge of how to be and stay in love anchors all lasting relationships. If romantic love is but a fleeting moment, unconditional, agape love that God gives is a never ending stream.

An advice from CS Lewis is pertinent, “Now ‘being in love’ may be a good reason for getting married, though,  as far as I can see, it is not a perfect one, for you can fall in love with someone most unsuitable, and even with someone you don’t really like or trust. Being in love is not the deeper unity that makes man and woman one. I am told (indeed I can see it by looking around me) that ‘being in love’ doesn’t last. I don’t think it was ever intended to. I think it’s a sort of explosion that starts the engine; it is the pie-crust not the pie. The real thing, I understand, is something far deeper – something you can live on. I think you can be madly in love with someone you would be sick of after ten weeks; and I’m pretty sure you can be bound heart and soul to someone about whom you don’t, at that moment, feel excited.” 

The thrill of being in love can be so irresistible. We act right away on the impulse that romance, a feeling call love, is the only important thing in marriage. However, there is a big difference between what we call ‘being in love’ and the solid, persistent and indeed ever-increasing sacrificial quality - not only of attraction, but of bonding - between a man and a woman. That kind of love works on a spiritual dimension, given and sustained by God. This is the love for husband and wife and the key to a successful marriage.

Such love, also goes for other relationships, beyond marriage, for the love we can give is underpinned by the love of God. It is this agape love that keeps the fire of these relationships warm and alive. By the giving of God's love in us, we make His unconditional love, visible.

Lionel

Ref 1: Deborah Evans Price Reuters/Billboard 21 May 2007

First Published 11 Aug 2012

Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

"Those who loved me," Jesus says, "will be loved by my father, and I too will love them" John 14:21

In 1956, a song "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" reached No 1 on the R&B charts and was acclaimed to be one of the records that defined the new and rising genre of rock and roll. It was written and recorded by a group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers and helped to make Frankie Lymon a rock and roll pioneer. Frankie was only thirteen years old when the song became a hit. 

 

“Love is a losing game

Love can be a shame

I know of a fool you see, for that fool is me

Tell me why, tell my why?

Why do fools fall in love

Why do birds sing so gay?

And lovers await the break of day

Why do they fall in love?”

 

The song proved to be a self fulfilling prophecy for Frankie Lymon. After the success, Lymon started a solo singing career but it all fell apart. Lymon's career was over by the time he was eighteen years old, and he died of a heroin overdose seven years later. He was unable to develop any meaningful relationships with women.

One could well have asked the same question, “Why do fools fall in love” of the marriage between the prophet Hosea and his wife, Gomer. In Hosea 1:2 it is recorded “The LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her.”

 

It was a strange command; a strange relationship developed. Time and time again Gomer, Hosea’s wife, would prove unfaithful to him and repeatedly, Hosea would reconcile with her. Hosea 3:1 recorded “The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulterer. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

 

Why? The love-relationship between Hosea and his unfaithful wife, Gomer would be the showcase of God’s relationship with His people. Despite the unfaithfulness of God’s people, the Israelites, who would time and time again turned to other gods, God’s forgiving love continually forgave and restored the special covenant between God and His people. Hosea's love mirrored God's redeeming love for the Israelites and for Christians.

 

Recently, Michael Card composed “The Song of Gomer”; the first verse and chorus read:

“Don't know what he sees in me

He is spirit, he is free

And I, the wife of adultery

Gomer is my name.

Simply more than I can see

How he keeps on forgiving me;

How he keeps his sanity

Hosea, you're a fool.

Chorus: 

A fool to love someone like me, 

A fool to suffer silently;

Though sometimes through your eyes I see

I'd rather be a fool.”

There is a sharp contrast between Michael’s song compared with Frankie’s. Michael’s song speaks of a true and faithful love, Frankie’s song spoke of fleeting romance.

Love is all about relationship. As Christians, we are blessed; we enjoy an enduring relationship with God. This began when we received our salvation in Christ and this love grows as our relationship with Christ matures. Even then we often fail God; our love for God fickle, failing and fleeting. Yet, God’s love for us is forthright, faithful and forever. It forms the basis of our enduring walk with God.

We are loved by God and we belong to Him. Henri Nouwen wrote, "God says to you, "I have called you from all eternity and you are engraved from all eternity in the palms of My hands. You are Mine. You belong to Me and I love you with an everlasting love." (Ref 1) 

Lionel

Ref 1: Henri Nouwen, You Are the Beloved, Daily Meditations For Spiritual Living. Hodder & Stoughton 2017

Adapted from a sermon given by Rev(Dr) Andrew Peh on the 23 Sep 2012

Updated from a previous article dated 10 Nov 2012

 

A Many Splendoured Thing

 

'Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?' Romans 8:35a

Christians usually describe four types of love:

• Affection (storge,). A fondness between family members or people who have found themselves in a relationship.

• Friendship (phileo). A strong bond between people who share common interest or activity.

• Attraction (eros). Romantic love.

• Charity (agape) - Unconditional love.

Unfortunately when we look at love in this way, love becomes cold and expressionless. We reduce love from a powerful emotion and attribute to an intellectual concept. Instead, when we experience love, it is a wonderful and overflowing feeling. It's exhilarating! 

Therefore, I prefer to look at love as in the song 'Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing' based an a romantic novel by Han Suyin:

Love is a many-splendoured thing,

It's the April rose that only grows in the early spring,

Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living,

The golden crown that makes a man a king.

Once on a high and windy hill,

In the morning mist two lovers kissed

and the world stood still,

Then your fingers touched my silent heart

and taught it how to sing,

Yes, true love's a many-splendoured thing.

To help us experience and appreciate this kind of love, the Bible teaches us to love sincerely and absolutely, that is, to “Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it” (Romans 12:9 The Message).

The 17th Century French Bishop Francois Fénelon, (Ref 1) wrote, "I live on love. Love does everything within me. It is only out of love that I was created. And it is only inasmuch as I love, that I do what God intended to do by creating me”. Fénelon knew that to be loved and to love is the deepest yearning of the human spirit. He also knew that love must be everything to a person, in order to give and receive love unconditionally. 

Hence, Saint Paul, in 1 Cor 13:4-8, described love unabashedly, 

"Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonour others,it is not self-seeking,

It is not self-seeking, its is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails." 

We all want to have somebody love us truly. God has given us the grace and ability to give and receive such a love. He loves us so that by His example, we can also love another. Love is at the centre of every Christian inter-relationship. It does not matter what kind of love, romantic, filial or agape; just love sincerely, absolutely and unconditionally and we will be living out God’s will and intention for us.

Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another” (John 13:34).


Lionel

Ref 1. R J Edmonson and R M Helms The Complete Fenelon Paraclete Press, 2008. pp 238-240

Post previously November 2010

Love Changes Everything

'Love never fails.' 1 Cor 13:8

On 20 Jan 2011, as any first-time tourists to Northern India would, Pat and I made the customary visit to the Taj Mahal. It is the most beautiful building we have ever seen. The Taj Mahal certainly lives up to its name and reputation as the "crown of buildings”. It has a simplistic, symmetrical, white, pristine and feminine beauty which will fix the eye and drop the jaw of any observer. I stood in awe of it and celebrated the artistic imagination and creative inspiration of the human race.

This pure beauty aptly and eternally celebrates what must have been a stunning beauty of a woman, Mumtaz Mahal, to whose memory this mausoleum was built. Mumtaz Mahal, meaning 'jewel of the palace', was the third wife of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. So enthralling was her beauty that Shah Jahan fell in love with her at first sight at the age of fourteen. They were married five years later and she became his inseparable companion till her death after giving birth to her fourteenth child. It is said that Shah Jahan was so heartbroken that he ordered the court into mourning for two years.

Some time after her death, Shah Jahan undertook the task of erecting the world's most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved. Construction took 22 years from 1632 to 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen and in its building, almost bankrupting the coffers of the rich and mighty Mughal Empire. It also cost Shah Jahan his kingdom. When the building was completed, his son confined him to house arrest and usurped his throne in an effort to stop the blatant expenditure and save the economy of the country.

The Taj Mahal stands today as a symbol to love and romance. For Shah Jahan, “Love Changes Everything”

Love, love changes everything:

Hands and faces, earth and sky,

Love, love changes everything:

How you live and how you die.

Love can make the summer fly,

Or a night seem like a lifetime.

Yes, Love, love changes everything:

Now I tremble at your name.

Nothing in the world will ever be the same

(click on title to hear a Michael Ball’s rendition of this song on YouTube).

One thing love changes is fear. Henri Nouwen stated, "Fear makes us run away from each other or cling to each other but does not create true intimacy. Fear makes us move away from each other to a safe distance. But laying our hearts totally open to God leads us to a love of ourselves that enables us to give whole-hearted love to our fellow human beings. In the house of God's love we come to see with new eyes and hear with new ears and thus recognise all people, whatever their race, religion, sex, wealth, intelligence or background, belong to the same house. God's house has no dividing walls or closed doors" (Ref 1).

We are afraid to commit. We are afraid of the 'Taj Mahal' brand of love. Ravi Zacharias wrote  “Love is a commitment that will be tested in the most vulnerable areas of spirituality, a commitment that will force you to make some very difficult choices. It is a commitment that demands that you deal with your lust, your greed, your pride, your power, your desire to control, your temper, your patience, and every area of temptation that the Bible clearly talks about. It demands the quality of commitment that Jesus demonstrates in His relationship to us.”  

Yet, Jesus Christ expects all Christians to aspire to the highest aspect of love - Agape or unconditional and sacrificial love. In John 15:12-13 Jesus said “This is my command: Love one another the way I love you. This is the best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friend." By these words Jesus shows how far love to another should extend, even to the laying down of our lives for our friends and neighbours.  

Lionel

Ref 1: Henri Nouwen, You are the Beloved. Daily Meditation for Spiritual Living. Hodder and Stoughtom, 2017

The Prodigal Father

"The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand" Psalms 37:23-24

The celebrated Rembrandt painting, 'The Return of the Prodigal Son' has a prominent place at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Staring at it, I was quickly drawn to the figure of the father in resplendent red. Rembrandt's portrayal of the father captures the divine act of compassion in a most human person.

This was the moment when the father received his errant son back into the family with unconditional love and forgiveness. The father that Rembrandt chose to paint is that of an aging blind man. The significance is not lost to any repentant sinner; God is 'blind' to our excesses when we return to Him like this prodigal son.

I entitled this post the Prodigal Father to express the largess and magnanimity of this old man. This blind old man in red was not concerned about himself. He loved unconditionally, caring only for son. He gave without expecting anything in return. Seldom will one experience this kind of love.

George Matheson, preacher and theologian, was born on 27th March 1842. After excelling at school he entered Glasgow University where he studied Classics, Logic and Philosophy. He graduated with first class honours when he was only 19 years old but a deep tragedy was being worked out in his life.  He had an incurable condition that would eventually result in total blindness. Whilst at University he had met and fallen in love with a girl who was a fellow student and they were planning to get married. He broke the news of his impending blindness to her, would she still marry him? To his deep sadness her blunt answer came to him with the force of a dagger to his heart, “I do not want to be the wife of a blind man” she said – and with that they parted. George never did marry but he learnt soon enough that there was another love and this love is enduring - the love of Christ for the sinner. He penned these words 

"O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be."

When the prodigal son forsook his father and took his inheritance, he expected the father to disown him. There must have been a deep seated grief in the father when this unfaithful son left. That did not prevent an attitude taking shape in the the father towards this wayward son, a willingness to forgive. This forgiving spirit translates to generosity in the extravagant reception and feasting when the son, returning home was restored to his place and wealth.

King David of Israel confidently wrote in Psalms 23:6, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever". Unlike David, I am not so confident and ever so often, I need a reality check. Like the prodigal son, I feel that from time to time I will digress, stray and leave. Yet somehow there is a Love that will not let me go. Hence I believe, I will always return. There is a love that burns within us, a love that guarantees that although we may stumble, we will not fall for the Lord upholds us with His hand.

Lionel