Last night, some lyrics from the song “My Lord and My God” by Anthony Carnesi kept playing in my mind. At the same time, I was seeing the slides that accompany the song on YouTube. There is a part of the song where Jesus is hanging on the cross while singing, “Love me. Why don’t you love me? Please love me. Oh how I long for your love!” At some point, I realized that things had changed. I was singing those words to him and he was showing me the image of himself on the cross. I kept begging him to love me, and he kept showing me the image.
As I pondered this, the idea of love languages came to mind. On numerous occasions, I have witnessed people communicating to their beloved in their own love language, but the beloved, with a different love language, was unable to receive the act as love. For instance, if someone communicates love through service, and the beloved expresses love through quality time, then the beloved may appreciate the acts of service, but probably will not receive the act as love since they would prefer one-on-one time instead.
The same maybe true in our relationship with God. If we have incorrect impressions of how God is supposed to make us feel loved, we won’t receive what he is truly offering us as love. His ways are beyond us, and how he loves can be very different than what we expect.
In fact, the song I mentioned above illustrates how God speaks his love to us by pouring himself out in total selfless love as he did by dying a brutal death on the cross for our sins. I imagine the typical human reaction to this is guilt and shame. If so, then his act of love is probably not being received as love.
For those who do not have the tools to deal with the intensity of how his death makes them feel, his self-giving on the cross can be received as a fact without much emotional response. Some might reject his love language because they feel like they are being judged. Some may experience other forms of confusion about the meaning of his death, and be unable to receive his act of love.
As we approach Good Friday, the commemoration of his death on the cross, I encourage you to spend some time with the Holy Spirit asking him if he sees you as begging for his love, which has already been poured out for you, because you have flawed impressions about his love language. Talk to him about healing any false impressions, and ask him to help you be more open to understanding the way in which God actually loves you. I invite you to listen to Anthony’s song (link below). Listen to his loving response to Jesus’ act of love, and ponder whether there is anything to learn from him. As you finish your time of prayer, spent some time thanking Jesus for his sacrifice, for any healing you received that allows you to better receive his love language, and for his continued efforts to help you better respond to his act of love.
Link to “My Lord and My God” by Anthony Carnesi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEsTx0wab-A
In Him,
dw
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