Jordan Smith - Only Love Lyrics

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Jordan Smith - Only Love

Meaning & Inspiration

I keep thinking about the way Jordan Smith sings about love being the only thing that can save us. It sounds right, doesn’t it? John wrote that God is love, and that’s a hard truth to ignore when things feel like they’re falling apart. The song says we can wish until the well runs dry, and I know that feeling—trying to fix things, trying to be better, but just ending up tired. It reminds me of the verses about how all our good deeds are like filthy rags. We really do run out of steam, and our own good intentions only get us so far before we hit a wall.

But then I get stuck on the part where he says "who we are would be enough." That’s where I start to feel uneasy. If I’m honest with myself, who I am—in my own skin, without God’s grace—is definitely not enough. Scripture isn't shy about the state of the human heart being deceitful above all else. If love is just a feeling we find inside ourselves, or some vague force, does it actually save? Or is it just us patting each other on the back while the world burns down like the song suggests?

It’s almost like the song is pointing at the right door but looking for the key in the wrong place. We need love to save us, absolutely, but that love had to come down from a cross. It wasn't something we could drum up or find by looking inside our own hearts. I keep wondering if we’re actually capable of saving anything on our own, even with "only love," or if we’re just kidding ourselves when we think we can be our own rescuers. It leaves me hanging, trying to figure out if this is really the kind of love that offers life or just a comfort that won't last past the next hard day.