WHEN WE LOVE
by Joseph M. Akpan

When I think of how God the Father loved
Us, That He gave His Son for us,
And I think of how Christ Jesus
So loved us that He gave His life for us;
Then I know there's nothing greater
Than to love God with all of our hearts,
And to love each other with the God-kind of love,
The kind of love that moulds and builds.

Nothing! We are nothing
When the Christ-love is out of our lives.
See an Army without power
When this love of God is sour,
See an Army that may fall out of the fight!
But in Christ Jesus, we are more than conquerors
When we stand as one, united in the fight
When we love each other with the Saviour's love,
And seek to glorify our God.

We are not of God, so the Bible says,
Without the Love of God in us.
We are just like clanging cymbals
Making a noise that seems to make no sense.
If we claim to be God's people,
We will love in the way Jesus loved;
We will seek in all our lives to do the Will of God,
Not compromising with the world.

Though our Army Band be praised by all,
And though we sing like angels sing;
Though men spread their clothes on highways
So that our officers may pass as kings;
Though our uniforms attract men,
With the ranks, all the badges that we wear;
We are nothing if we do not have the Love of God
That seeks to save the soul in sin.

copyright 2006. Joseph Akpan