Before you panic and think I’ve fallen off the Christian bandwagon I need you to know that I in no way endorse listening to Usher’s music. Whew! Cleared that up. Have you had one of those times when you blob out in front of TV and flick channels? Well I was feeling that way the other day and stumbled across Usher’s catchy tune “DJ got us falling in love again”.
Cause baby tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again
Yeah, baby tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again
So dance, dance, like it’s the last, last night of your life, life
Gonna get you right
The rest of the lyrics are basically about two people who meet in a club at the end of the week and do what people do in clubs on the weekend if you know what I mean… But is love the feeling we get when we are dancing with some attractive stranger? Or is love something more substantial?
Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 13 (the wedding passage) that love is something far deeper than mere attraction. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”. In other words true love is expressed in one way unconditional giving to someone else. In contrast, Usher’s definition of love is one way taking from the other person. He enjoys the woman because of the pleasure her body gives him, not because he wants to please her. And the implication is that if her dancing does not please him, her life with him is over. His “love” is totally conditional.
As a married sinner I am reminded often that my love for my better half is badly flawed. But there is One who has perfectly kept the demands of 1 Corinthians 13 for me. His name is Jesus Christ. He loved you and me perfectly to the point that it cost Him His life on the cross. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)
For a pop song that does lay down one way unconditional love: Choose You by Stan Walker
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