Remember my earworm?
(No. No. Not that wormy-thingy* Khan put in Chekov’s ear.)
Star Trek 2 – Khan puts larva in Chekhov’s ear.
No, rather, an earworm, as C. Philip Beaman and Tim I. Williams explained in the British Journal of Psychology:
“Simply, an earworm is the experience of an inability to dislodge a song and prevent it from repeating itself in one’s head.”
And yes, the one that’s been sticking with me is still What’s Love Got To Do With It? as sung by Tina Turner.
Tina Turner – What’s Love Got To Do With It (Live from Arnhem, Netherlands)
Yeh-uh. Yeh-uh,
Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?
Who?
Ohn-huh. Ohn-huh.
Yes, that one.
So,
What DOES Love have to do with It?
First, What is it?
(No. No. It’s not manna.)
It being
“life, the universe and everything.”
(Sorry, Douglas Adams. The answer IS NOT 42!)
The short answer:
Everything!
The expanded answer:
Because
I am loved!
(And you are too! See Know That God Loves You below.)
I am loved by the Father, in Whose Image I am created.
I am loved by the Father’s Son, Who redeemed me.
I am loved through the Father’s Spirit, Who lives in me.
How do I know?
Because the Bible tells me so.
Because, as a child, I learned to sing “Jesus Loves Me.”
On the internet there are at least four different sets of lyrics, most by Anna Bartlett Warner and a few by William Batchelder Bradbury:
Looking at those lyrics, the only one I remember from my childhood is the first verse and the refrain:
Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
Refrain:
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Then I considered:
Where in the Bible does Yeshua say He loves me?
Or love(d) those who believe(d) and follow(ed) Him?
Most of the Bible verses that first came to my mind were those where “GOD” loves me:
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 NASB
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NASB
22 The LORD’S [YeHoVaH’s] lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 NASB
I made a Bible search, and I recognized some verses and located a few more places where I found that “Jesus loves me.”
In Yeshua’s words:
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NASB
21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21 NASB
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:9-10 NASB
My Analysis
Three things come to mind:
- We must respond to His love.
- Take or leave it.
- Embrace it or ignore it.
- We must do.
- We must take some action.
- We must move in faith.
- Taking NO action is an action.
- And there will be a result from our response.
- There will be a consequence of what we do,
- whether we choose action.
- whether we choose inaction.
Consider, from above:
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NASB
Response: Obey His commands
Action: Love one another
Consequence: Be known as His disciple
21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21 NASB
Response: Obey and keep His commandments
Action: Love Jesus
Consequence: Be loved by the Father, and Be loved by His Son, and receive revelation from Him
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:9-10 NASB
Response: Obey and keep His commandments
Action: “Abide” in His love
Consequence: Will “abide” in love, in relationship similar to the “abiding” of the Son in the Father
So, back to
What’s Love Got to Do with It?
Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?
Well, it’s True.
We can only know love second-hand.
To us, Love is a “second-hand emotion.”
YeHoVaH IS Love.
We cannot “love” without His Love.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 NASB
Again, we cannot “love” without His Love.
Our love “second-hand.”
19 We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 NASB
And when we receive His Love, we are to love others.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 1 John 4:11, 21 NASB
While there is no risk in loving YHVH; nevertheless, there is a risk in loving others.
We may be hurt.
Our “heart can be broken.”
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?
Who?
However, broken hearts can be mended.
Broken hearts can be healed.
Even broken relationships that led to a broken heart can be restored.
(IMO, every relationship doesn’t have to be restored. You can decide to avoid toxic people who have hurt you.)
YeHoVaH Rapha
YHVH is a God of Healing.
26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD [YHVH] your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD [YHVH], am your healer.” Exodus 15:26 NASB
14Heal me, O LORD [YeHoVaH], and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise. Jeremiah 17:14 NASB
YHVH’s Son, Yeshua, healed as part of His ministry on earth.
23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Matthew 4:23-24 NASB
In addition, the Father is a God of refreshing, of restoration, of renewal, even reconciliation – by making all things new.
19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. Acts 3:19-21 NASB
8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. Colossians 3:8-11 NASB
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:10-11 NASB
So …
… to sum up:
Know That God Loves You
- Do you know that YeHoVaH loves you?
- Have you accepted His Love, especially as shown through the loving sacrifice of His Son?
- Have you responded to His Love, specifically, by accepting the gift of salvation and reconciliation?
If you have said yes,
- What have been the results, the consequences, of receiving of His Love?
- How has your life been changed?
- Are you now showing/ sharing the Love of the Father through your love for the people of the world?
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB
The Time to Choose Is NOW
If not, why not?
It’s ok to doubt,
if you check it out!
Blessings,
TLThomas
ps:
If you would like to know more about responding “Yes,” please sign up for my email list and receive notification when I post.
Then you can reply directly to my email and ask me anything you want.
I’ll answer as best I can.
(I don’t claim to know it all; but I will “Check it out!”)
pps:
Or you can leave a comment. (If you don’t want it posted, just say so and I won’t.)
You may also like:
- What Did Jesus Teach About Love? – My Word On The Word
- God Knows You! Do You Want to Know Him? – My Word On The Word
Remember!
It’s ok to doubt, if you check it out!
Be a Berean!
10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Acts 17:10, 11 NASB
© 2024 TLThomas