The beginning of the spiritual journey is accepting that God is love and that he loves you uniquely.
I hear it all the time, though, “Yeah, God loves everybody.”
And you know what? He does. But he loves you uniquely. He loves you wholly – like not just with part of his heart, with the WHOLE THING. He would live his whole life, through the crucifixion, again in a heartbeat if you were the only one who needed him to. So while he loves everyone, his love for you is particular. Is special. Is full.
We know it in our heads. But does anyone other than me have a hard time believing it? For many of us, God’s love hasn’t made its way from our heads to our hearts.
How is this possible that we’re still not convinced? Even the heroic actions of Christ in Holy Week aren’t enough to convince us that we are personal to him! The devil fuels our unbelief and calls us to question the truth about God’s love for us and our place in this story. So how can I know this love, his love, is personal for me?
Ask him. Sit down and ask. Look him in the eyes, tell him you’re unsure and ask. Tell him why you’re nervous to ask, tell him why you can’t quite believe it. And then ask. He wants you to because he wants to tell you why he loves you.
I invite you to take this question into Holy Week with you. Boldly, ask God; what is so unique about your love for me? Help me know it, Lord.
And while you’re bold, here are eight songs rooted in Sacred Scripture that may help reveal his love, a love uniquely reserved just for you. You can listen to these songs (and others) on this Holy Week Spotify list.
1. “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury
Based on the “Parable of the Lost Sheep” (Matthew 18:12–14 and Luke 15:3–7), the shepherd, representing Christ, leaves the other sheep to come after one lost sheep, representing you. He leaves everything to pursue you uniquely because of his “reckless love.” There’s nothing he won’t do to come after unique and unrepeatable you because he loves you!
The God who created the heavens and the earth knows you – intimately (Psalm 139). He loves you more than you can imagine. And he desires to be in a relationship with you – a personal, intimate communion.
2. “You Say” by Lauren Daigle
The devil speaks lies into each one of our hearts. Including the lie that ‘I am not uniquely loved.’ Sister Bethany Madonna of the Sisters of Life says: “Like a fingerprint, love is distinct to each person. No one can love like you — no one,” she said.
“No one can receive God’s love the way that you receive love into your heart. No one else can love God in the way that you specifically uniquely love Him. And he longs for it. He desires your love.”
“God sees each and every human person as they are, and no matter how weak or poor or sick or rejected, He sees his beloved, one for whom He is willing to give up his life,” she said.
3. “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong United
God says to you: you are my child, and there is a place for you in my house, a place has already been prepared for you.
If that’s not love uniquely set aside for you, I don’t know what is. As the song says: “You are chosen and not forsaken. You are for me and not against me. You are who you say I am.”
You are his child.
Are you a parent? Maybe an aunt? Or, do you know what it feels like to be loved by a parent or an older sibling, uncle, the kind of love that’s committed, free, devout? It’s amazing, right? It’s deep, rooted love.
It’s clear they love other people too, but you also know there is a place set aside in their hearts and lives just for you. Goosebumps! That’s God for you. You are his daughter. In God, you find your worth and identity, and your purpose flows from this.
4. “Who Am I” by Casting Crowns
We all want to know who we are. We are looking for our purpose, our life’s mission. What an incredible gift that we can stop looking.
Because God has given it to you, you are his beloved daughter. You are his. You can sing this song loud and proclaim: “I am yours!”
The Saints knew to whom they belonged. If you read the lives of the Saints, they are all different, though. The same goes for you and your relationship with God. You are unique and unrepeatable. Thus, your relationship with God and his love for you is also unique.
5. “How He Loves Us” by Shane and Shane
“He is jealous for me”
What is jealousy? Our response to the threat that something or someone, valuable to us is being drawn away from us – drawn to something or someone else. That’s how God is for you!
And “how great your affections are for me.” When God’s love and grace break through into your life, in a tangible way, it may feel like an “unforeseen kiss”, a moment that catches you by surprise, but one you don’t want to end.
6. “Resurrection Day” by Rend Collective
“Ever since I met you I am changed. This is my resurrection day. Nothing’s gonna hold me down.”
Jesus rose from the dead for you! It’s a personal event where you come face to face with your savior who went ahead of you to defeat death. The day you come to know this is your resurrection day; the day where, from here on out, your gaze is fixed on eternal life and on the one who opened that door for you.
Ask the Lord, how do you want me to experience the resurrection new this year? What area of my heart/life do you want to raise from the dead this Easter?
7. “Drenched in Love” by Bethel Music
“My name’s been carved upon your heart. No, not death, no not hell could ever rip us apart.” When Jesus was baptized, he took on the weight of your sin as he was plunged into the water; the same goes for the cross.
He remembered you uniquely as he hung upon the cross, knowing that his sacrifice would save you.
Jesus’ heart is bigger than yours and mine. It’s supernatural. It’s beyond our understanding until he reveals it to us. Even if we don’t understand it, your name is carved upon his heart.
It’s honest if you visualize it as the only name on his heart because that’s possible with God!
8. “Pieces” by Steffany Gretzinger
God’s love is wild! His love is even proud to be seen with you. He wants to be known by you, and he wants you to let yourself be known by him. God designed you for himself. You only make sense with him.
Out of the surplus of his love, he created you! Just the very thought of you exploded his love into creating you.
His love is so beyond our understanding he can’t hold anything back from you. He gives even his life so that you may live forever with him. He wouldn’t even know how to give his heart in pieces.
More Holy Week Song Suggestions
Here are more songs that have helped me enter into Holy Week’s past and God’s love for me. You can listen to all the songs mentioned in this blog post on my Holy Week Spotify list.
- “O Come to the Altar” by Elevation Worship
- “Oceans” by Hillsong United
- “King of My Heart” by Steffany Gretzinger
- “Good Good Father” by Chris Tomlin
- “No Longer Slaves” by Bethel Music
- “I Surrender” by Hillsong United
Are you looking for even more inspiration to grow in your relationship with God? Let’s journey together in spiritual direction!
