Positive Reinforcement

At FCC, weekend services typically include both hymns and contemporary worship songs. Hymns tend to be lyrically rich, with multiple verses to express foundational truths. Worship songs can also have ‘meaty’ lyrics, but most often include a chorus or refrain which helps to reinforce the song’s main message.

In ‘Love the Lord’ (Lincoln Brewster), new for us this coming weekend (4/19 & 20), the themes of loving and serving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength are repeated throughout the chorus and verses – and, in this case, the reinforcement could not be more appropriate. It’s just what God seemed to have in mind for this, and other commandments, as He instructed His children through Moses:

“Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” - Deut. 6: 4-8 –

ALL my heart, ALL my soul, ALL my strength… ALL of me – loving Him. Personally, I’ll be thankful to sing a few repetitions of this as I attempt to even scratch the surface of imagining what ALL looks like here; it will help me worship more truthfully.

One last note: it’s significant that the song moves through the word ‘love’ into the word ‘serve’. To serve God is to obey God – and both express our love for Him. In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” This song is not about our choosing to feel loving toward God (though we can joy in the presence of such feelings as we worship); as we sing, we commit to expressing our love through active obedience. With all that we are. In this, we move toward ‘pursuing His Reign in ALL of life’. This is true worship.