Love has often been a theme of JJ Heller's songs, whether it's the love of children, the love of her husband, David, or her love of Jesus. And in her latest song, appropriately titled, "Loved," JJ draws our attention to the source of all the loves we have in our lives: the love of God the Father, expressed through Jesus.

In this song, Heller's transparent and vulnerable lyrics paint a picture of many fears and hardships we experience in life, exposing those shadows to the light by the very simple yet overpowering truth that we are loved. From there, we have the choice to embrace and acknowledge and live in that love, or remain in darkness and pain.

"For some reason, Christians including myself sometimes think, ‘If I'm following the Lord and doing the best I can, that life will be easy,' and it's not," Heller has said. "That's where grace comes in, and that's where we grow. We have the choice to live in fear, or to live in the hope that God is in every moment with us. That's one of the major themes of this season in my life."

I had the great opportunity to interview JJ and her husband, David, Heller about "Loved." 

 

Dave: This song has several different layers to it. In our music video, we feature our daughter, Lucy, and she represents visually how people may connect to the song, lyrically. I remember very specifically trying to write songs last summer and we kept hitting dead ends while we were trying to write some very heavy material. When the chord progression and light-hearted nature of the song structure for this song evolved, we both looked up at each other and knew we needed to hone this one in, because it was something special. I think a lot of our material deals with isolation versus community. This song is no different. It talks about moving from the internal isolation and pain that someone feels to actually relating to community after releasing the bitterness or hurt or whatever it happens to be that you are holding onto. That to me is one part of the song.

Right after we wrote this song I read a book about forgiveness. As I was going back through the lyrics, I started to realize how much this song is also potentially about forgiveness. So often, unforgiving hearts are the result of harboring some kind of pain and taking on the mantel of a victim. In the second verse "you have a voice, you have to use it," is about how you have the capacity to break outside of the perception you have of yourself as a victim who doesn't have any power. It is an empowering message. Speak up, let go of your bitterness and move on.

 

JJ: There's so much freedom in knowing how much God loves us. Wounds caused by others in our lives are inevitable, but we choose whether to isolate ourselves with an unforgiving heart or experience the joy and pleasures of relationship by forgiving them. This song is about being proactive. Making the choice to love others well even if that love isn't reciprocated, because it's God's love and acceptance that defines us, not anyone else's. I know for myself, I am definitely a perfectionist and a people pleaser. My whole life I've tried to figure out exactly what somebody wants from me and adjust who I am to meet their expectations. So when it comes to saying anything out loud I choose my words so carefully sometimes I don't say anything at all because I don't want to say something wrong or offend someone. I don't want to look or sound stupid and want people to think I'm intelligent or funny. It's almost this self-defeating cycle of shutting myself down because I'm afraid of rejection. This song to me is about freedom in knowing that the love that God has for me makes the other voices not as important and takes the risks away from those other encounters. Even if I make a complete fool out of myself it doesn't change how God feels about me.

 

1 John 4:7: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
 

...1 John 4:8: "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

 

...and 1 John 4:16: "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."
 

JJ: When we talk about this song from stage, I'll often say that God's love is like a safety net. No matter what we do or say, His love is still there. There's nothing to be afraid of and no reason to be self conscious because our identity is His child. I think about how in "Love Does," Bob Goff described that "sometimes we present ourselves as a copy of who we are instead of the original version of ourselves because we don't want to get damaged." We named the album Loved because your view of your identity, regardless of your circumstances is that you have value and God loves you. With that understanding, you can hope in even the most dire circumstances. We hope that this song and our new album is an encouragement to people.

 

Dave: Regarding isolation versus community, I feel like even if you are in the midst of a vibrant community, we have a tendency to hide our hearts and our feelings. There's risk involved in being vulnerable and opening our hearts to others. As C.S. Lewis said, "The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." JJ and I also recently read an article called "Stop Instagramming Your Perfect Life." So much of what we put out on social media is an edited version of ourselves. That can extend to text messages versus conversations. Because those updates are edited, we don't need to compare ourselves to what we see in those social media updates. They aren't reality, they are an edited version of ourselves.

 

 

"Loved" is a transparent, vulnerable and moving song. JJ's breathtaking lyrics "Do you feel the ache inside your soul, You know you'll never make it on your own, Sorrow is too great for you to hold it, You're gonna break, Why don't you lay it down" brings me to tears as I pray along with her. 

 

This song allows listeners to worship along with JJ in Spirit and in Truth. No matter what you are going through in life, God's promise to His children is that you are loved. God is love. That biblical truth is profoundly captured on "Loved. "

 

From Marianne Meye Thompson's IVP New Testament Commentary: 1-3 John (1): "Because God is love, love comes from God. God is the source of love. Like the electricity running through electrical wires, love comes from God to us, then flows through us to others in the community. When John exhorts his readers in 1 John 4:7, let us love one another, he is encouraging them to allow God's love to flow through them. For because God is love, love must characterize those who claim to be born of God or to know God. Those who claim to be doing the will of God and reflecting God's activity in the world will be known by the love they manifest for God and for each other. "

 

The music video features JJ and Dave's daughter Lucy, and is also a profound picture of how God feels about us as His children. Children also love us unconditionally and God wants us to be a picture of His love back to them. Remember that God loves you and there is nothing that we can do to make Him love us more.

 

(You can watch the music video here.)

(1) Taken from IVP New Testament Commentary: 1-3 John by Marianne Meye Thompson. Copyright(c) 1992 Marianne Meye Thompson. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com.