“All you need is love.” So sang the Beatles.“What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Maybe you are too young to remember that one. I used to know every word of so many songs that were on the radio. Maybe you know a few, too! Popular songs are full of a desire for love, a recognition of the need for love. It’s true: Individuals need love; the world needs love. But, as many songs declare, finding love is illusive. We know we need it, but don't really know how to get it. And, if observation is accurate, we spend more energy trying to figure out how to get love than how to give it.
Yes, love is central to life, but love isn’t primarily something we are supposed to get. It’s something we are supposed to give. Jesus gave his disciples a command to love one another. He said that the world would know those who belong to Him by the way they love each other. (John 13:34-35) That’s a command to love. Not a command to search for love. The command to give love is the primary directive. Yet, it’s been twisted into the main thing everyone is searching for. What if we turned our focus to giving love rather than getting it? In the current culture wouldn’t that immediately establish us as different? In a world where everyone is looking for love (“in all the wrong places”, as a popular country song once said), what if the identifying factor of Christians was that we gave love away rather than seeking it for ourselves?
How does that happen? We have to know that we are already loved.That deep seated need for love has already been met. “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son...”(John 3:16) “This is how we know what love is. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us...” (1 John 4:10) “We love because He loved us.” (1 John 4:19) The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that God’s motivation in reaching out to the world by sending Jesus was love for all humanity. He demonstrated His love by sending Jesus to die for us. (Romans 5:8) What if we stopped looking to feel loved and recognized that the love we are looking for has already been demonstrated? What if you took God at His word and believed that He really does love you? How would that change the way you see life?
If you and I really believed that we were loved by God it would change our approach to everything. We would come from a position of having that “love tank” filled. We would come from a place of being satisfied, not empty and searching. If I will allow the love of God to satisfy my need for love then I will find myself filled to the brim and overflowing with His love and ready to give it away. The world is dying of thirst for the only love that can satisfy and when you and I are filled with God’s love for us then we can’t help but let it splash out. Sociologists recognize love as one of the basic needs of people. I remember learning that in school, don’t you? It’s God who has designed us that way and that need is meant to be met by Him first. Those who belong to Him, you and I, are meant to stand in for Him and allow people to taste His love through us so that they will search for true fulfillment in Him. You and I are called to represent God by loving people in His name. What a high calling! What a great honor! What a tremendous responsibility.
Beloved, you and I are not equipped to love others in Jesus’ name until we become fully convinced that He loves us. Only then can we fully receive His love so that we will be filled instead of always searching. We will overflow with His love by the power of the Holy Spirit.No person will ever completely fill our need for love. God has also designed us to need human love. There is no denying that. You and I need our family and friends to love us. But, you know as well as I, that their love is imperfect and often disappointing. You know how it feels when stinging words or a cold shoulder come from the person you are closest to. The deepest hurts come from those close enough to get near our vulnerable places. It’s an undeniable fact that those we love most will let us down. They won’t be able to give us the love we so desperately need. Only God can satisfy that place. He’s shaped every heart with a home that only His love can reside in..
So, here’s the challenge: Reccieve God’s love for you. Let Him fully convince you that you are loved.Then, let that love transform the way you respond to the world. Let it fill you with all the life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:19 NLT) And finally, give that love away to everyone you meet. God’s love. Sacrificial. Doing what is best for the other person. Not the sloppy, do-whatever-makes-you-happy idea that the world calls love. God’s love always tells the truth and always leads people to Himself.
All you really need is love. God’s love. And once you receive it, all you need to do is keep taking it in and giving it away.
Key thought: My ability to give love starts with knowing that I am loved by God.
A Scripture to consider: “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:19 NLT
A YES challenge: Do you struggle to believe that God really loves you as an individual? Take some time to meditate on Scripture and allow that truth to begin to become a part of you. Why not start with our Scripture to consider? Write it on an index card or post-it note. Set a daily reminder in your phone. Let God use His word to surround you with His love and let it change you.
Prayer: Father, I know that You love the world, but I struggle to believe that You really love ME. Help me to receive your love and let it change me so that I can give that love away to everyone I meet. As I experience Your love help me to love others in Your name. Amen.