Whole Heart: A Love Without Walls

Your love

It comes with no conditions

You give us Your whole heart

My hope

Is in the blood of Jesus

I know who I am

Because of who You are

- Whole Heart by Passion 

Ya'll, I cannot stop playing this song... It's the opening track to Passion's new album titled Whole Heart, and I'm obsessed. 

Just a quick overview of Passion: it's a conference for young adults, ages 18-24, hosted in Atlanta featuring all the big-name Christian speakers and worship leaders. It's a movement really, of young adults passionate about making Jesus the center of everything. Unfortunately I haven't been able to go the last few years; but I attended my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, and to this day I remember how the teaching and worship experience changed my life. 

Each year the Passion worship band releases an album of the songs played at the conference, and the first few lines of the first track (Whole Heart) have been constantly running through my head lately.

Your love

It comes with no conditions

You give us Your whole heart

Once again, I am reminded of how the love of God is so unlike human love. 

We as humankind struggle a lot with walls. We build them as high as they can go, only letting those in who are worthy and willing to break through. I think walls come from hurt. They come from a place where maybe we didn't have walls at first; but somewhere along the way, someone looked at what was exposed and turned away. Walls come from broken trust and insecurity and doubt that love and acceptance will come if we are seen as who we really are. 

Imagine opening your heart to the person you trust the least in this world... someone who you know will let you down eventually. Someone who will inevitably fail at coming through for you, who will say things and do things that hurt you. It's just common sense that you would never do that right?

Here is where I find the love of God.

Here is where I am left in awe of a perfect Creator who would give His whole heart to those He knew would break it. 

His love has no conditions. There is no part of Himself that is hidden or that He withholds from us. He has no walls and doesn't hesitate to make it known how much He loves us. The Word of God is a love letter to humanity... one in which we never have to question His motives or how He really feels. 

I understand walls. I have walls from insecurity and people who have hurt me... walls that I'm not proud of and working toward tearing down. I know that sometimes we need walls as boundaries against toxic people or situations. 

But there will never be a need for walls against the Lord. If anything, He's the One who deserves to have walls ???

We have to be careful not to confuse God's love with what we know about love, which can only be based on what we've experienced with humans. I think this is where a lot of people get tripped up in their understanding of God. The love of God is perfect and unmatched. Even the most beautiful love stories pale in comparison to the love that God has for us. I have given my life to trying to be the best reflection of His love that I can be; but it's not fair to only get to know God through another person. We are imperfect and can never do Him justice.

This is a love that each person must encounter and experience for themselves. My prayer is that each of us would get up close and personal with the Lord. That we would get to know Him as He truly is. As a response, our walls can't help but fall in His presence, bringing us closer to giving Him our whole heart.