thoughts out !oud

a Christian’s news, views, opinions and occasional poetry …

Your love is like a beetroot stain

Posted by Mathew | 2 September 08

There are many grand, romantic, humorous and satirical quotes on the topic of love that anyone could find nowadays. It seems that we toss the word ‘love’ around quite freely – perhaps we have even diluted it to an extent – so that it becomes just something that is so abstract as to be almost meaningless or at least devalued. We say things like ‘I love Nutella’, or ‘I love my cat.’ What we really mean, of course, is simply that we really like the object of our ‘love’. Yet scripturally, love means something much, much stronger than for what we give it credit. Truly, there is no greater love, as the Lord Jesus says, than to give up one’s life for another.

CS Lewis wrote about the variations of the different levels of love found in the Greek, New Testament language. In his work, The Four Loves, Lewis defines each as:

  • storge (affection) – a fondness through familiarity, such as members of a family
  • philia (friendship) – strong bonding between two people each with a similar goal, interest or activity
  • eros (act of being in love) – indifferent to any failings of the person being loved
  • agape (charity) – unconditional love, one which Lewis (and Christianity in general) holds as the greatest of loves

The last of these four loves is what is at the centre of the Christian gospel. While the others all play important roles, the other three would seem to stem from agape - for God is love (1 Jn 4:16).

Some years back, a friend of mine from high school introduced me to small, somewhat unknown New Zealand Christian rock band called The Lads. I was relatively cautious of the contemporary Christian music scene at the time – most of what I heard really grated my ears. Sure, it was worshipful, but for the large part, it was also awful*. No, I wanted something fresh and out of the ordinary and, most of all, fundamentally funky. The Lads made the grade.

One of their songs, which is the title of this post, Beetroot Stain, struck me as just awesome. It talks about God’s love being so great that it can never be altered, that He can never stop loving us – just like trying to get rid of a beetroot stain (virtually impossible … well, it is possible, depending on the type of beet used to make the stain and the cleaning agent involved, but don’t let logic get in the way of an otherwise great analogy!).

The chorus of their song reads:

Your love, Your love is like a beetroot stain
That never ever goes away from me
Your love, Your love is with me everyday
I know Your love is here to stay with me

(The full lyrics can be viewed over at metrolyrics.com)

This is no wishy-washy love that is being spoken of here. It’s not a ‘I love my cat’ kind of love, or the ‘mmmm …. Duff’ Homer Simpson beer-drooling kind of love, but a love that is deep and abiding and ever present and salvific. As such it is a love that reaches out and attempts to draw us into itself. God is that love and He desires that none should perish.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and ’sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?’ On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ (Matthew 9:10-13)

Jesus constantly demonstrated God’s love for us. While we were still steeped in sin, he chose to mingle among us, to befriend us and to offer us a great and everlasting hope. He came that we might be made well in soul and in spirit.

Jesus came to call out to and provide a way for lost sinners like you and me to find their way back into the full grace, mercy and love of God. Which is very much like a beetroot stain on the clothes of our soul– unfortunately, many just try to ignore that it’s there or attempt to cover it over.

Let’s not be foolish.

* A purely subjective comment … but one that I believe is very true!

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