A Piece of My Love

I was listening to an old favorite of mine on the way to the Kalamazoo airport Saturday morning.  It made me think something serious.  Wisdom and age are something else.  The song by Guy called “A piece of my love” had never come across like this before.  I listened to Aaron Hall croon away telling this woman, whoever she was, lies and more lies.   He was seducing her and his whole MO was to convince her that a piece of him was better than none of him.  Here was a man that was obviously in a relationship, he had someone else that he refused to talk about, and he did not want this woman that he was seducing to ask him any questions.  So he offered her a “piece” of his love instead of all of him.  As a side note, love cannot be broken up into “pieces”- that is to say, you cannot “love” two people romantically at the same time.  Sorry, but that’s not biblical love.  One may be love and the other lust or infatuation but the ability to love is from God because we are made in His image.  If God is love then love must, in fact, be perfect.  Therefore, the love that we have for the one that God gave us belongs only to that person.  Anything else is an imperfection- a distortion of love.   Don’t take my word for it; check the lyrics out for yourself:

baby you can't have all of me 'cuz i'm not totally free
i can't tell you everything that's goin on, baby
there's a few things in my past; that should not be explained
i'm askin you baby
be with me----for a lil while
please hush- no questions asked
lay back and relax girl-

now kick off your shoes
Now put your head down
since we're here now baby
I'm giving you a piece of me you can have

When God created Adam and Eve, God created them for one another- totally.  There was no piece of Adam that Eve was offered.  When God brought Eve to Adam, Adam said, “this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh…”  He readily accepted her as his wife.  Adam’s descendants (us) have seemed to miss this.  There is no such thing as a “piece” of love.  Brothers are quick to offer up a piece of themselves instead of committing wholly to the one that God brought them.  Women are quick to settle for a piece of a brother instead of leaving themselves available to be brought, by God, to their mate.  Love between a man and a woman is mutually exclusive and it is all or nothing.  Lust, on the other hand, can never be satisfied.  We confuse lust and love all the time.  Love remains in good times and in bad times.  Love never fails.    Lust fades after the first argument.  Lust stays as long as the “feeling” is good but as soon as the feeling is gone, lust changes targets and looks for another to satisfy the feel-good.

What Aaron Hall did in this song was exactly what many black women deal with and settle for every day.  They would rather have a piece of man than no man at all.  It doesn’t matter if he’s married, if he has a family, if he’s in a committed relationship or if he’s not worthy of their time- he’s a man and “I need a man”.  I couldn’t help but wonder what type of woman this was to accept this half-hearted attempt to get in her panties- and according to the song, it worked.  He made the terms clear: you can’t have all of me, I’m not totally free- but just lay back and don’t ask any questions.  How arrogant is that?  Here is a man telling a woman- don’t ask me any questions, just give me the goods and in return, I will show you a good time.  What happens after the good time is over?  He goes back to his main squeeze leaving the woman to go on about your business. 

Songs like these subliminally convey to us that it’s ok to be in these dysfunctional relationships.  They tell us that illicit, unfruitful and unproductive relationships are ok as long as “the loving (lust/sex) is good”.  The bible tells us that a man and a woman are to be brought together by God.  It also says for a man to drink from their own cistern [Proverbs 5:15].  This could also apply to a woman.  A cistern, which is an underwater man-made reservoir, could be of considerable size which means that there should be MORE THAN ENOUGH water in the cistern to satisfy the drinker.  God gave us to one another, each to his/her own.  Each one is a cistern to his/her mate.  1 Corinthians 7:2 says that each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband.  A woman that settles for a piece of man, especially a man that is married, does not see her own value.  If she knew her value, she would not take a piece of a man’s “love”.  A piece of love or a piece of man is unacceptable.  As a matter of fact, it he could not give her all of himself, she would promptly leave regardless of how good the lust is.  There are some things that a woman has to realize about a piece of a man: he’s not going to leave home for you, you will never be number one and  he’s only going to continue to string you along and repeat these same lyrics to you- “please hush, no questions asked…lay back and relax…”  That can’t possibly be something that a real woman desires. 

The devil is one that is always encouraging us to settle for less.  He also distorts those things that God made perfect.  God made love perfect, to be enjoyed between a man and a woman.  Don't settle for a lie from Satan.  Jesus said that Satan has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning.  God made a mate for all of us- it takes prayer and patience to allow that mate to come to us.  While Aaron Hall sounded good, his view of love is quite faulty- if you come to Christ, He will love you completely.  You don't have to settle for a piece of Him, you can have all of Him.