Lent 2026: There is love and there is fire in his eyes

There seems to be a theme to this week’s posts: music. I am always listening out for new songs to add to my ever-growing playlists. Some now stretch well beyond twelve hours, which means I often forget what is on them until something resurfaces unexpectedly when shuffle takes over!

One such song is Look to the Lamb. A fairly recent discovery for me, buried near the bottom of the playlist. The first time I heard it, a line in the chorus practically knocked me flat: There is love and there is fire in his eyes.

Just sit with that for a moment.

Despite everything I know about God, I think a small part of me still expects anger. Or perhaps worse, disappointment. Human experience quietly teaches us to expect judgement. We learn to brace ourselves for disapproval, to assume that when our flaws are fully seen, love might falter.

But what if, when we looked into his eyes, we saw love instead?

Hearing or singing this song still gives me chills. It makes me stop and wonder how often I assume God will behave as humans do. How often I expect criticism where God offers compassion, distance where God offers welcome, rejection where God offers belonging.

The line speaks not only of love, but of fire. And perhaps that matters just as much. Because fire can feel frightening. Fire consumes, it exposes. Fire refuses to stay comfortably contained. Yet throughout scripture, fire so often marks the presence of God. The burning bush that was not destroyed. The pillar of fire guiding God’s people through the wilderness. Tongues of flame resting gently at Pentecost.

This is not a safe or indifferent love. It is fierce. Passionate. Alive. A love that fights for us rather than against us. A love that burns away shame, fear, and every lie that tells us we are unwanted or beyond redemption. God is not tame, but he is for us. His fire does not exist to tear us down, but to refine, to protect, to lead.

John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

There is love in his eyes. And there is fire too. And maybe, little by little, we learn to believe what we see there.

Love.

And fire.

Both turned towards us.