Laid Down Lover

I’ve been commenting on another blog (about Jesus, prophets, and Todd Bentley – anyone surprised?) and mentioned in passing that I’m a “laid down lover” of Jesus. The person I’ve been talking with asked me to elaborate, but since that’s way divergent from the original post, I told Craig that I’d write about it over here.

“Laid Down Lover” is a phrase I picked up during the Lakeland revival. Heather Clark sang a song by that name and it’s stuck with me. I think the phrase is attributed to Heidi Baker. I found myself singing it to the Lord a couple weeks ago.

A few people (just google it) have made the accusation that it’s something perverse, which is rather silly (just google it and read the blogs of people who’ve made that declaration).

What does it mean? A lot of things. Do I fall short of what I’m about to describe? Yes. But Jesus meets me at that place, picks me up, and we go on…

“Laid down” – Jesus laid down His life for me, and He talked about how there is no love greater than when a man lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Since I am a friend of God (John 15:14), it would be foolish NOT to lay down my life for Him (Gal. 2:20, Romans 6). God does not desire dead religion and rote sacrifice. He wants us to be living sacrifices for Him (Romans 12:1).

To be “laid down” means to abide in Him (John 15). It means that you are still and know He is God (Ps. 46:10). It means letting go of that which does not profit and not striving for it (Mt. 16:26). It means being both heavenly minded and earthly good.

“Lover” – I love Jesus. Do you? If you love someone, that makes you a lover. Our culture has corrupted the term and made it into something it was never intended to be. “Lovers” now implies people who are having illicit sex. Been there, done that, burned the t-shirt. That’s not love, and those aren’t “lovers”.

A lover is simply one who loves – and I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Deeper than that, the Bible is full of references that portray Jesus as Bridegroom and the Church as the Bride. Jesus tells us (as individuals) to be like the wise virgins, ready for Him (Mt. 25). Then there’s always the Song of Solomon.

I don’t think that “sex” is being discussed in those references. Intimacy, however, is. That’s another thing that our culture has so badly skewed, the word has lost its intended meaning. “To be intimate” is just another euphemism for having sex.

sidebar: why is it that the church complains about words like “lover” and “intimate” but not about “sleep” <ahem> I now return to the post at hand…

Our relationship with the Lord is intimacy! Sin destroyed man’s relationship with God – and Jesus came to restore it. Too often we focus on sin/forgiveness and forget that the Gospel is SO much fuller, richer, deeper, higher!! God wants us to know the love of Christ that passes all knowledge (Eph. 3:18,19). To use a somewhat trite phrase, God wants us to have heart knowledge – not just head knowledge.

Knowing something intellectually is not a bad thing. I intellectually know lots of things – but unless I embrace them in my heart, what good is that knowledge?

The Bible says that Jesus is the Word become flesh (John 1:1). Why? In part, so that we could know Him.  Jesus said in Matthew 7 that there will be people who called Him Lord and did all sorts of things in His name, but to them He says, “I never knew you.”

That word, “knew” (ginosko), like most Hebrew words, is heavily nuanced. It implies an intimate relationship (and in ironic juxtaposition to our English term, it can even imply sexual relations). It doesn’t mean that Jesus lacks knowledge of those people, that He doesn’t know who they are. (It would speak rather badly of a God who claims omniscience if He doesn’t know everyone and everything, wouldn’t it? ) Jesus was talking about knowing them in the context of intimate relationship. He was saying in essence, “Those people were not lovers of Me.”

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God!

Intellectual knowledge does not stir passion. The Lord wants us to be passionate lovers of Him! My intellectual knowledge of airplanes does not stir me to passion about them. They’re simply convenient vehicles to take me from one place to the next. How often the church treats Jesus like an airplane! We claim the promise, pray the prayer, and He gets us to heaven (some people add, “if we don’t jump out of the airplane along the way” to the mix).

Jesus is not “the only way to heaven”. HE IS LORD! HE IS GOD! Yes, of course, our only way to heaven is through His shed blood. But quit living like that’s the only thing He’s got going for Him! Live in the revelation ofwho He is and who you are in Him! Be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19 again)!

I could go on, but my time grows short today. What I’ve written is just a drop in the bucket of what I feel and what the Bible says on the subject. Glory to God!