Like A Rose?

Are you familiar with the praise song, Like A Rose?  The lyric at the end says, "Like a rose, trampled on the ground / He took the fall, and thought of me / above all." Some people have commented that they disagree with those last two words, since Christ was motivated by the glory of God above all. But they might be interpreting the phrase in an unnecessarily narrow way. 

f we take that little phrase "above all" to mean, "Above all that the world could offer", then it's a good lyric. Satan offered Christ the world and all its glory, and Christ turned it down. Christ could have summoned 10,000 angels to rescue Him from the cross, but He didn't. He chose to redeem us, rather than avoid such terrible suffering.


Obviously Christ's love for us wasn't greater than His love for His heavenly Father. But that motive is always true about the Lord Jesus. So I suggest we understand the song's phrase "above all" with that as a given. Christ didn't think of our welfare above absolutely everything that exists, including the glory of God. Clearly not. But He did put our salvation ahead of all the power, treasure, and enjoyment that this fallen world could have given Him.