The Center of His Love

I was running in Colorado again today, after a very long period of not running in Colorado. I remembered the hills but had blocked the altitude difference out of my memories. It was too cloudy to see the mountains, so it was kind of a tough run. Then, I heard this song. A song I have heard many times before, but this one part really struck me today:

"I’m holding on to the center of Your love"
(Monk & Neagle, All I Need)

It’s such a simple song, beautiful, full of truth and a genuine desire to know that Christ is all we need.

This one line, though, drew my thoughts toward the negative space, the opposite of what ‘the center of His love’ really is…because most often that is what tends to subtly and dangerously draw us away from Him. Why do we NOT hold on to the center of HIs love? I think a lot of times it’s because we are deceived and don’t know what that really even means.

We think that we have experienced the love of Christ in ways that are really only shadows, mirages, pretending to be something they aren’t. We pursue relationships to fulfill us and meet our needs. We chase after careers, prestige, being the best parents. We strive to attain (and maintain) the perfect home, the perfect family, the perfect life. Sure, as Christians, we attribute success to blessing and provision from God. We may even attribute failure to not enough Jesus or not being faithful in giving Him credit. In all of this, we miss the point. The center of His love is not in the gifts that He gives, but in the giving of Himself. 

As I heard this line, I was immediately reminded of missionary families we know and pray for all over the world. Far from home, with families of their own, they daily know what it means to hold onto the center of His love. They know the meaning of depending whole-heartedly on the Lord, because they have no other option. They know the risks and sacrifices of going (maybe specifically and maybe generally), but they also know the worth of living for Christ and seeing the Gospel go forth. 

Next, I was reminded of the sermon at church from two days ago. He said, “I think living in faith is harder in America than it is anywhere else.” He talked about physical idols built to gods in other places; however, the idols we have in America are usually invisible and we are frequently completely blind to them. They can be much more dangerous. This is similar to holding onto things that are weak reflections, at best, of God’s love and thinking we are actually holding onto Him. Only when what we are holding onto crumbles do we realize that it never was the real thing.

When I transitioned from the negative space of what the center of God’s love is NOT and was able to think about what it IS, I was overwhelmed with the truth of the HOPE we have in Him. In my art classes, we have been working on anchor charts from the perspective of Hebrews 6, where God’s Word tells us that our hope in Him is secure, comparing it to an anchor for the soul. That is what I think of when I think about what the center of God’s love truly is…an anchor for the soul, immoveable, unchangeable, stable and strong. Beginning in verse 13, the next 8 verses describe in great detail and with specific examples and prophecies why we can trust the certainty of God’s promises. This is real, this is what makes life worth living, and this is what I want to be holding onto, rather than a well-disguised shadow that only leaves me empty and alone.

I don’t read The Message often, but sometimes I love the beautiful words it uses to communicate scripture. Hebrews 6:18-20 says “We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Grab on with both hands and never let go, but be sure you know what you’re grabbing.