Many of our favorite popular songs are love songs. A few weeks ago someone sent me a YouTube link of a preacher who used popular songs to illustrate how our love for God should express the same intimacy expressed in good love songs. Think of your favorite love song. Could you substitute the name of God or Jesus in the song? Would you be able to sing the song to the Almighty?One of my favorite songs in Stevie Wonder’s “I just called to say I love you.” That’s a song I could sing to God. It doesn’t have to be any special day or reason to just call to say, “I love you” to our God.
Another favorite is Barry White’s, “My First, My Last, My Everything.” Don’t you think that describes the God of all creation? The Word says He is the Alpha and Omega. We know He is the first and the last. The question is whether we will make Him our everything? Marvin Gaye sang, “How Sweet it is To be Loved by You,” and along with Tammi Terrell he sang, “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough.” In the first song Marvin says, “I needed the shelter of someone’s arms and there you were. I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were. With sweet love and devotion, gently touching my emotions, I want to stop and thank you…” Instead of saying “baby” at the end of that line, we could just as easily say, “Jesus.” In the second song, the lyrics say, “Ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low, ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from getting to you.” Can you imagine what the walk of faith would be like if we were pursuing God this fervently?
And of course we cannot forget the smooth and silky song styling of Smokey Robinson. In one of his golden oldies, “Try Something New,” he talks about how persistent he will be to please his beloved. “I will build you a castle with a tower so high, it reaches the moon. I’ll gather melodies from birdies that fly and compose you a tune. Give you lovin’ warm as mama’s oven and if that won’t do, then I’ll try something new.” Are we trying to continue to do what God asks of us? And, when we don’t succeed are we willing to look to God and say, “then I’ll try something new?”Another favorite is Barry White’s, “My First, My Last, My Everything.” Don’t you think that describes the God of all creation? The Word says He is the Alpha and Omega. We know He is the first and the last. The question is whether we will make Him our everything? Marvin Gaye sang, “How Sweet it is To be Loved by You,” and along with Tammi Terrell he sang, “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough.” In the first song Marvin says, “I needed the shelter of someone’s arms and there you were. I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were. With sweet love and devotion, gently touching my emotions, I want to stop and thank you…” Instead of saying “baby” at the end of that line, we could just as easily say, “Jesus.” In the second song, the lyrics say, “Ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low, ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from getting to you.” Can you imagine what the walk of faith would be like if we were pursuing God this fervently?
John 13: 35 says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
In the greatest passage of scripture on love, Paul explains to the Corinthians what love is—what it entails and what it is not. This is the same love we should be showing our God because it is exactly the kind of love He lavishes on us. We each have a special song that lifts our spirits. That song is typically a great hymn of the church or one of the contemporary gospel songs of gospel music stars like Mary, Mary, Fred Hammonds, Kirk Franklin, or Donnie McClurkin. But somewhere among your CDs or on your iPod playlist are some good old love songs. Pull one of them out, listen to it, and determine whether it is a song you could sing to God. “I just called to say I love you…and I mean it from the bottom of my heart!”
In the greatest passage of scripture on love, Paul explains to the Corinthians what love is—what it entails and what it is not. This is the same love we should be showing our God because it is exactly the kind of love He lavishes on us. We each have a special song that lifts our spirits. That song is typically a great hymn of the church or one of the contemporary gospel songs of gospel music stars like Mary, Mary, Fred Hammonds, Kirk Franklin, or Donnie McClurkin. But somewhere among your CDs or on your iPod playlist are some good old love songs. Pull one of them out, listen to it, and determine whether it is a song you could sing to God. “I just called to say I love you…and I mean it from the bottom of my heart!”
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