My Lover

John Wesley was thirty-five when he experienced the  “warming” of his heart toward Christ (not his mind but his heart). In that moment he became not only a "Christian," but a lover of God.  There really is a difference. According to author John Eldredge, it was shortly after this that Wesley penned the hymn “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” whose first verse goes like this: “Jesus, Lover of my soul/Let me to thy bosom fly.” John Eldredge says that down through the years the hymn has left many a hymnologist searching for a more acceptable translation. “The difficulty,” as John Julian said, “is the term Lover as applied to our Lord.” Revisions now in hymnbooks read, “Jesus, Savior of my soul” or, “Jesus, Refuge of my soul,” which are touching but nothing close to what Wesley meant. He meant Lover. This is a phrase that has always deeply stirred me ~ "Jesus, Lover of my soul." I often repeat it to myself, in good times and bad ~ it has a very powerful impact on me.

The idea that “reason and knowledge are everything” has permeated all of our culture, sometimes subtly, and sometimes not so subtle. It has even permeated our churches, which is very sad. I believe Jesus was a man of great passion. I believe He passionately sought to save us from our sin so we could be with Him for all eternity. WOW!

David, who wrote many of the Psalms, wrote with passion about God's love. The poetry that flowed from his heart is filled with unapologetic emotion toward God. He speaks of drinking from God’s “river of delights” (Ps. 36:8 NIV), how his Lover has filled his heart “with greater joy” (4:7 NIV) than all the wealth other men have found, and he writes in many places how his heart sings to God. He cries through the night, aches to be with God. “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence” (16:11 NIV). "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the Living God." (42:1–2 NIV) These are not the words of "reason and knowledge". These are not the words of even your average pastor. For David (and for me), God’s love “is better than life” (63:3 NIV). David is captivated by the Beauty he finds in God. On and on it goes. The man is undone. He is as smitten as any lover might be, only his lover is God. Read the Psalms for yourself. Look for the passion in David's words. And do you think Jesus would have endured the agonizing torture and death before and on the cross for anything less than passion? Or for that matter, leave His throne in Heaven for anything less than passion? I think the term "lover of my soul" is already inadequate to capture the power and intensity of God's great love for each one of us.

As John Eldredge says, "It is possible to recover the lost life of our heart and with it the intimacy, beauty, and adventure of life with God." Ask God to awaken the passion of your heart toward Him. He will take you on an amazing journey of discovery. And you'll never want to go back.