Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes

I just heard this song for the first time yesterday while sitting in a restaurant.

Listening to it, the lyrics reminded me of other songs in which plaintive males try to convince the woman with whom they're in love that they would be better loved by the narrators than by the jerk the women are with. I bet every male on the planet has felt exactly this way. One of the my favorite songs of this ilk is the Beatles' This Boy.

But the video for young Mendes' song takes a far more serious tack, showing us that the object of the narrator's love is being abused by the guy she's seeing. There's even a graphic at the end of the video urging women who are in abusive relationships to seek help to get free.

Through my years as a pastor, I've occasionally counseled with women in abusive relationships or worked with women's shelters to help women who have bravely left such relationships.

So, if you're a woman in a relationship in which you're being abused--physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically--by your husband or boyfriend, get out! Find a women's shelter, if you need to. No human being should be abused.

And don't be afraid to call the police; men who physically abuse women are guilty of assault.

Remember, that you were made in God's image and Christ died and rose to bring all who follow Him wholeness and eternity. No one "deserves" to be abused. No one.