Stop in the Name of Love

Sorry for taking so long to get this out but here you go:

The song “Stop in the Name of Love” kept coming into my head for a couple of weeks now. As I thought about it I realized that in the pleading lyrics calling the singer’s beloved to come back to them, to not cause them pain, we can also see God calling out to us: to not cause are more hurt to ourselves and others and to come back to Him.

“Stop in the name of love. Before you break my heart.” This repeated in the chorus of this song. God is Love therefore doing something in the name of true love (not selfish or basal love) is doing it in the Name of God. We are loved by God with an intense love. Everyone probably knows John 3:16 because of its widespread use: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not parish, but have eternal life.” God sent His Son to us to lead us to knowledge of God on a deeply personal level when we surrender to Him; but ultimately Jesus was sent to die, to be crucified, in our place to show how much God loves us. Jesus is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity: one God, three Persons. The love shown to us by Jesus as He willingly gave Himself up to horrendous torment: the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the abuse and mockery at the hands of the guards, the carrying of His heavy Cross after all the other tortures He endured, and finally His crucifixion. This is God’s love for us. Jesus was tormented even before His Passion in the Garden of Gethsemane as He sweat blood from the stress and anxiety of what was to come saying to God the Father, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) It was not an easy choice to suffer out of love for us, but He did it anyway because of the love burning within Him for us. A love that defines who He is as Scripture says: God IS love! (1 John 4:8 and 16)

God asks us to stop short of sin and avoid doing evil, since we were made to live with God, the source of all good, and sin breaks our relationship with God. Sin saddens God because He knows the price and consequences of sin. When we sin, we cause an infinite separation between us and God, who is Goodness itself and therefore cannot abide sin. Fortunately for us Jesus already paid the price for sin, which is eternal death (a.k.a. damnation), and His Blood washes us and bridges the gap between us and God for those who entrust themselves to God’s infinite Mercy. However, we still have to deal with the consequences of our sin just as someone who is caught breaking and entering a house must face the consequences of jail and/or whatever sentence the judge gives him.

I find this greatly illustrated in the book of Acts 16:16-34. To summarize: Paul and Silas were imprisoned and that night there was a great earthquake, which opened the cell doors and unfastened their chains. “The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (Acts 16:27-28) Those are the words that God shouts to us: “Don’t harm yourself!” God knows that sin is harmful to us because it separates us from the Author of Life, God Himself. Sin weakens our wills and enslaves us to our passions. Grave sin even kills our spirit (murder, rape, hatred, lust, etc) (cf Matt 5: 21-30; 1 John 5:16-17) and kills charity (love) in us.

That is why God asks us to “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11 ) because He desires our ultimate good (not what we think is good for we are very limited in our foresight and understanding) and sin only takes us away from that. He asks us to “Think it over” before choosing to do that which is harmful to us and those around us. Even if we think an act is only affecting ourselves, all deeds that are done in darkness will be revealed. Sin affects us in subtle ways that affect those around us as well: making us impatient, uncaring, rude, etc.

In short, Christianity is not about following a God who makes rules for us to limit our freedom or fun, but it is about choosing to follow God and allowing Him to show us how to live life abundantly (John 10:10) and show us what we ought to do to be joyful and build ourselves and others up instead of tearing us down. God revealed His Law to us and His Commandments because He knows they are the only way that we can live joyful, fulfilling lives!

I am praying for you that you may walk the path of Life, letting God lead you to true joy and eternal happiness. Please keep me in your prayers.

-Steven