Recently, I was reading in C. S. Lewis’ book THE FOUR LOVES, and I came across some very interesting ideas that relate to our worship of God. It is not unusual that I come across good ideas [from] Lewis, but these ideas piqued my interest as they related to my seeking God in my own worship life and I thought they might be of interest to you as well. In the first chapter of the book Lewis talks about two kinds of love. One kind of love he calls Need-love. This is the love of something because it meets our needs. A glass of water to a thirsty man or a savory meal to a hungry man are examples of this kind of love. The hungry man desires the meal with all his heart because his hunger drives him to it. When his hunger is sated, his love for the food wanes, or perhaps turns to disgust, depending on how much he has indulged his gluttony. The thirsty man, likewise, is driven to a drink of cool water. The water may not even be all that cool or clean, but it slakes his thirst. The moment that thirst is satisfied, he has no more desire for the water. He does not think it odd that the second after his thirst is satisfied he does not desire the water. He does not think it odd that he does not go around each second of the day desiring water. His love is gone when his need is met.
The other kind of love Lewis talks about in his first chapter is Appreciation-love. This love is the response to the essence of a thing as it presents itself to us. For example, smells elicit love born out of appreciation. As we walk through an aspen forest or past an open kitchen window, the smells that present themselves to our senses are delightful. They cause enjoyment simply by their being. Before we smelled them, we did not need to smell them. We may have been, as Lewis puts it, completely satisfied and at peace. Those smells do not cause us to want to possess their sources, but instead then give pleasure freely and, were they anthropomorphized, receive our Appreciation-love on their existence alone. Another example of Appreciation-love is the response we have to music. We are not normally living our life desiring the next piece of music we can get. Instead, when music presents itself, we love it because of its being music and we enjoy it through our senses without being driven to them by prior desire or forgetting them as satisfied needs.
Lewis makes an interesting observation about these two loves based on our response to them. On the one hand, we tend to respond in Need-love by stating something about ourselves. Responses to the glass of water or to the fine meal include statements like, “I needed that.” Or, “I am so full.” These responses betray our true focus: ourselves. On the other hand, we tend to respond to Appreciation-love situations with statements about the thing we are admiring. “That piece is so beautiful.” Or, “Doesn’t that garden smell delightful?” [Those] are appropriate responses. It would seem inappropriate to say of the forest smell “I needed that! I was so in need of that smell.”
As these ideas relate to our worship of God, it is certainly true that we all need God desperately. All things come from His hand and not one atom of the universe, let alone any one of us, could continue to exist unless sustained by His Word. Often times I find myself driven to Him by my need for His provision or protection or wisdom, but it causes me to think: do I ever come to God out of pure appreciation for His being? I know that my children love me. They come to me to get what they need all the time and I enjoy meeting those needs and seeing their pleasure in my provision. But, my deepest fulfillment in being their father comes when they sit quietly with me beside a campfire or a stream or the TV just because of who I am. I think if there is a hierarchy in these two loves, Appreciation-love is the better. I think God loves to meet my needs and receive my love because of it, but I also think there is something very special when I seek Him just for who He is, without an agenda; when I seek His face instead of His hand. I think I’ll try to do that on purpose and more often.
Lewis, C. S. THE FOUR LOVES. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, inc., 1960.
