The Velvet Covered Brick - Hesed!

More than thirty years ago a terrific book came into my hands the title of which was The Velvet Covered Brick by Howard Butt (1974). The central idea was that Christian leadership should be like a velvet covered brick, strong with a loving touch, "as wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove." Is there one word that can convey strength and gentleness at the same time? I belive there is. The Hebrew word hesed is such a word. I am told by my friends, who know the language far better than I do, that hesed means a redeeming, embracing love that sees brokenness and initiates a response, that reaches out and saves. We encounter the word hesed in the Old Testament book of Hosea (3:1-5) where God instructs Hosea to find a woman who is a harlot and to love her anyway. Hosea does so. Her name is Gomer. She is an adulterer and he buys her and so redeems her. Despite her subsequent unfaithfulness and multiple recidivism into sin, Hosea continues to show Gomer loving kindness. The Scripture makes it very clear that Hosea and Gomer's story is the story of God and Israel. It is also our story. Hesed, God's redeeming love, in the face of our recidivism of sin and unfaithfulness, embraces us, reaches out to us, and welcomes us back. This is the amazing grace to which the song witnesses.

This is the love of the father in the parable of Jesus of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The text says "But while he (the son) was still a long way off (almost home), his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Hesed! Amazing love from the father, initiated in response to the son's return. The father's love was always there for the son to rediscover and so it is with us to seek God's presence, receive his love, and respond in loving the Lord with all we've got and our neighbor as our self.

Read 1 John chapter 4 this week. God is the source of love and has a purpose: 1) he personifies love and desires that we reflect his love to the world; 2) he loves us and desires that we love him in return. We do that by our obedience to his directives; 3) God the father gave his Son for us at Calvary and he desires that we give our selves for others; 4) Christ laid down his life for us and directs us to lay down our lives for others. Hesed!