A GROOVY KIND OF LOVE

 

A groovy kind of love

Photo from Web

Vinyl records have come and gone and have come again. The disc spins on a turntable. A needle is then lowered into the groove on the outer edge which works its way into the middle. The needle picks up whatever is inscribed in the vinyl groove and plays it through an amplifier. As kids back in the day, we would have fun playing the records faster or slower than the artist had intended. Apparently, Dolly Parton heard her 45rpm single “Jolene” played at the slower 33 1/3 and preferred it! Be that as it may, in the 60s we heard terms such as “groovy!” I imagine this had to do with records.

Speaking of which, we heard things like, “you sound like the needle’s stuck” or “you’re sounding like a broken record.” Sometimes the problem was with the record, maybe a dent in the vinyl causing the needle to jump grooves. However, sometimes the trouble was with a defective or worn-out needle. If we were to view the human heart as the needle, and the groove in the vinyl record as our life from beginning to end, surely, we would conclude that there is something wrong with our hearts or with the world or with both!

Phoro from Web

The heart/needle has the five senses with which to pick up the information from creation and has those fifteen irreducible “modes of meaning” [Herman Dooyeweerd] with which to make sense of it. However, the question is: By what standard? How do you know if all the equipment is operating in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions as per the manual? Perhaps you’ve been messing around by playing things at the wrong speed? Backwards? Has your needle been damaged? As a stylus is a dust and fluff magnet, so the heart is a magnet for sin (Job 5:7).

Though dwelling for a time on the same planet together, the Christian and the non-Christian have antithetical views of creation. The former, because he/she is born of “the water and the Spirit” (John 3:5), can see the kingdom of God. The latter cannot. The former, as Jesus says, is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mat. 6:33). The things that shall be added are the basic things the non-Christians are seeking, such as food, drink, and clothing etc. – life’s necessities.

So, though, as we see, Christians and non-Christians share many things in common while living together on Earth, only the former has been given a new heart/needle. Only the Christian is able to obey the command to be about the business of “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is that the former seeks to understand and apply the knowledge of God by taking every thought captive to Christ, while the latter “suppress[es] the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18b). However, though the Christian has been given a new heart (Heb. 10:16), a residue of sin remains. Therefore, we must constantly keep on checking that we are operating according to the Manufacturer’s instructions. This is where the checks and balances of sphere sovereignty helps. Are we making an idol out of any or all of the fifteen law spheres? Are we involving ourselves in bibliolatry? Are we worshipping theology instead of God?

Darkness and light are antithetical. Like one who has lost their sense of seeing, the non-Christian operates in darkness and under its power. The Christian has been rescued. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13). If we are to speak of two kingdoms, they are these: the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light.

The songs of “the kingdom of the Son of His love” cannot be fully appreciated unless and until the Manufacturer by His grace gives us a new heart.