“This Is Love”: David Coate’s Sacred Anthem of Sacrifice and Redemption
Veteran Christian artist David Coate reaches toward the heavens with “This Is Love,” a tender new single that weaves together the rich textures of Inspirational, Christian Soft AC, Country, and Southern Gospel into a tapestry of profound devotion. Released to Christian radio, the song stands as a gentle yet powerful meditation on the sacrificial heart of the Gospel, drawing its lifeblood from John 15:13—that sacred verse where Jesus proclaims the greatest love of all: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Written and produced by Coate himself, the track distills this eternal truth into lyrics of elegant simplicity, allowing the message to breathe without pretense or excess. In the chorus, Coate’s voice carries the weight of centuries as he echoes Scripture’s own cadence, singing “This is love, this is love that a man lay down his life,” before ascending toward the hopeful declaration that “with this love we’ll move mountains, with this love we’ll change the world.” It’s a musical reminder that the love displayed on Calvary was never meant to be merely admired from afar, but to be channeled through believing hearts until it reshapes the very landscape of human existence.
The arrival of “This Is Love” carries the resonance of a life fully surrendered, and Coate’s own journey to this moment reads like a psalm of redemption itself. Before kneeling at the cross at seventeen, he was a young musician lost in the distortion of garage bands, idolizing the legendary riffs of Hendrix, Clapton, and Black Sabbath while simultaneously drowning in the destructive currents that so often accompanied that world. “As a young teen I experimented with about everything you would not want your kid to be involved with,” he recalls, and the weariness in that confession speaks volumes. But the consistent faith of Christian classmates became an undeniable witness, and eventually the weight of his own direction grew too heavy to carry. His surrender to Christ brought immediate revolution—so much so that he locked away his prized white Fender Stratocaster, convinced by prevailing teaching that rock music itself was inherently unholy. Yet what appeared as loss became sacred pause, a season where his faith deepened until the night a friend invited him to hear acclaimed Christian guitarist Phil Keaggy play for free. There, astonished not only by Keaggy’s supernatural musicianship but by his radiant humility, Coate prayed a prayer that would alter eternity: asking God if he might use his own musical gifts in divine service. Returning home, he retrieved that Stratocaster for the first time in a year, and the instrument that once amplified empty noise now found its voice tuned to worship. “This Is Love” is not merely a song Coate wrote—it is the fruit of a lifetime spent learning that the truest music rises not from talent alone, but from a heart finally laid down.
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