Song Spotlight - "Only Love Remains"

Song Title: Only Love Remains
Artist: JJ Heller
Album: Only Love Remains
Writer: JJ Heller

Scenes of you come rushing through
You are breaking me down
So break me into pieces
That will grow in the ground
I know that I deserve to die
For the murder in my heart
So be gentle with me Jesus
As you tear me apart

Please kill the liar
Kill the thief in me
You know that I am tired of their cruelty
Breathe into my spirit
Breathe into my veins
Until only love remains

You burn away the ropes that bind
And hold me to the earth
The fire only leaves behind whatever is of worth
I begin to see reality
For the first time in my life
I know that I’m a shadow
But I’m dancing in your light

Teach me to be humble
Call me from the grave
Show me how to walk with you upon the waves
Breathe into my spirit
Breathe into my veins
Until only love remains

Audio Sample: HERE or HERE

Why I Like & Chose This Song: There's a lot to like about this song. Just like her song "Love Me" that I spotlighted earlier, JJ really sings well again, and this song really has a great sound to it. That stuff is important, for no one would want to listen to me sing any of these songs regardless of what they were about. What I really like though is how this song seems to fit with what I'm going through right now. Ligonier Ministries, a ministry of R.C. Sproul, puts out a monthly magazine, and this month the theme is mortification. So God and I have really been working on mortifying the sin that unfortunately still resides in my body. Whether I'm a thief or a liar like the song depicts or just an angry man -- these things don't belong in the Christian! And, to makes things even better (or tougher), it's not good enough for us to simply kill the sin in our body, but we need to put on righteousness as well. And I really think this is what this song is about -- or it's at least what I get out of it. I woke up Monday morning and the first words to my mind weren't "Oh, another Monday" but instead "Teach me to be humble. Call me from the grave. Show me how to walk with you upon the waves. Breathe into my spirit. Breathe into my veins. Until only love remains." And that's when I knew this song would be the next one under my spotlight.

Related Scripture: Colossians 3:5, Colossians 3:12-14, 1 Corinthians 3:10-16

Favorite Line: "Please kill the liar. Kill the thief in me. You know that I am tired of their cruelty." Believe it or not, I actually don't lie or steal that much. Wow, that's probably a much bigger lie than I know. But I what I like to do sometimes when listening/singing this song is to replace the "liar" and "thief" with something else that is plaguing me at the time. "Please kill the _____. Kill the ______ in me. You know that I am tired of their ______." I'll let you fill in your own blanks instead of wondering what mine are. This song has a bit of almost everything, but what I like best is identifying my sin with its purpose now that I'm a Christian -- it's purpose now is to die. But it doesn't want to die at all, but instead it wants to spread and multiply like Gremlins. Toss your anger problems in the microwave I guess. Alas, if it was only that easy.

Final Thoughts: JJ Heller really has a great CD here. I highly recommend it. As a man who likes variety (except with my women), I found myself listening to this CD in my car for probably 9 straight days. Christian, if you are reading this and are not finding yourself fighting aggressively to kill the sin that resides in your body (even the "little" ones), then I implore you now to get with God, kill the sin, and put on love. For we Christians should be known by our love and little else.