On April 15, 1965 Hal David and Burt Bacharach released their hit song, What The World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love. It was first made popular by singer, Jackie De Shannon. If you're over sixty, you may remember. Two years later, on July 7, 1967, the world started to sing, "All you need is love," one of many musical gifts from the Beattles. The 60s was the "love" decade. While both songs expressed a lovely human sentiment, what the world really needed was and still is God's pure, holy, steadfast love.In 1 John 4:16m the Apostle writes,
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God,and God in him (her)."
- John 4:19
When we appreciate that the Almighty is the
God of holy love, we understand that neither holiness nor love may be conceived
apart from the other. A holy God is
transcendent, almighty, distant, and separate from us. A loving God is near, immanent, intimate, in-dwelling. How can he be both distant and separate and at the some time near and intimate? So much of God’s nature is conjunctive and
paradoxically “both-and.” His essence is
not just any kind of love. Because
God’s holiness is pure, perfect and spotless. His love is pure, perfect, and holy [1] and the good news is that it is accessible.
Allan Coppedge[2],
evangelist with the Francis Asbury Society, discusses God’s love in relation to
holiness quoting Moses (Ex. 15:11,13),
Who is like thee, O Lord, among the Gods?
Who is like thee, majestic in holiness. . .
Thou hast led in thy steadfast love
The people whom thou has redeemed.
Thou has guided them by thy strength
To Thy holy abode.
Dr. Coppedge helps our understanding of the steadfast love of God
pointing out that the word in Hebrew for such love is hesed. Hesed is covenant
love. It’s relational, a love full of
grace, mercy, faithfulness, goodness, and loving kindness. Such love is absolutely faithful. God in covenant is faithful in His love for
us. When it comes to his nature of holy, perfect love, He is the God who makes it clear, (Malachi 3:6), “I do not change.” He
calls us to be steadfast in our love for Him and all others in the likeness of
his steadfast love for us. In such steadfast love for us, His grace and loving kindness always comes to us first
and with it God anticipates from us a steadfast reciprocal response of thanks,
praise, and obedient faith in Him.
Let us strive to be steadfast in our faith and love. Take the lead
from our Savior who was steadfast and obedient to the Father as he loved us with
perfect, holy love, humbling himself, and becoming obedient to death even the
death of the cross. Philippians 2:8)
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