All You Need is Love
Got a notice this morning that on December 7, Starbucks is hosting a worldwide sing-a-long to continue to raise awareness and funds for (RED) - a movement started to help fight AIDS in Africa. They will be singing the song All You Need is Love. And you and I could join them.
I was thinking about that song this morning, sort of singing it in my best Beatles-esque. Okay, so it didn't sound so much like the Beatles, but it did get me to thinking. . .what kind of love is all we need? Is it the others-focused kind of love that doesn't require or expect anything in return? Because, to be honest, that doesn't seem to be humanity's forte. How does a world do that when it's not our nature to express that kind of love?
Now stay with me. . .
On Tuesday I woke up with the story of the Good Samaritan on mind. Don't know why, but I did. And I, like a lot of teachers of this passage, focused on the story what it means to love your neighbor. But this morning I started thinking about the initial encounter between the lawyer and Jesus.
The man asks a great question, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" After further prodding by Jesus he even answers correctly when he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself." Great answer!! But he didn't stop there. He messed up when he tried to trick the Son of God - by the way, that's never a good idea. The lawyer went on to ask, "but who is my neighbor?"
Here's where I've been trying to get to (and thanks for hanging with me this long). The man would have never had to asked the neighbor thing if he had an inkling of understanding of God's meaning of love. It wouldn't have mattered who his neighbor was if he really had the slightest grasp of what loving God and loving others really meant. All he would need is love. . .God's love!
And a lot of sickness could be prevented, poverty possibly wiped out, and children would have clothes to wear and food to eat if we, as a society, really had God's love in our hearts. All we would need is love.
And people could see and encounter the face of Jesus as we, the church - the bride of Jesus - loved our God and our neighbor. . .if we truly understood the meaning of loving God and loving our neighbor as God intended. And our neighbor's life - next door, down the street, next door to our church, across town, across this nation, and across the globe - could and would be changed.
Yes, all we need is love. . .God's love.
Love on,
Mike
I was thinking about that song this morning, sort of singing it in my best Beatles-esque. Okay, so it didn't sound so much like the Beatles, but it did get me to thinking. . .what kind of love is all we need? Is it the others-focused kind of love that doesn't require or expect anything in return? Because, to be honest, that doesn't seem to be humanity's forte. How does a world do that when it's not our nature to express that kind of love?
Now stay with me. . .
On Tuesday I woke up with the story of the Good Samaritan on mind. Don't know why, but I did. And I, like a lot of teachers of this passage, focused on the story what it means to love your neighbor. But this morning I started thinking about the initial encounter between the lawyer and Jesus.
The man asks a great question, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" After further prodding by Jesus he even answers correctly when he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself." Great answer!! But he didn't stop there. He messed up when he tried to trick the Son of God - by the way, that's never a good idea. The lawyer went on to ask, "but who is my neighbor?"
Here's where I've been trying to get to (and thanks for hanging with me this long). The man would have never had to asked the neighbor thing if he had an inkling of understanding of God's meaning of love. It wouldn't have mattered who his neighbor was if he really had the slightest grasp of what loving God and loving others really meant. All he would need is love. . .God's love!
And a lot of sickness could be prevented, poverty possibly wiped out, and children would have clothes to wear and food to eat if we, as a society, really had God's love in our hearts. All we would need is love.
And people could see and encounter the face of Jesus as we, the church - the bride of Jesus - loved our God and our neighbor. . .if we truly understood the meaning of loving God and loving our neighbor as God intended. And our neighbor's life - next door, down the street, next door to our church, across town, across this nation, and across the globe - could and would be changed.
Yes, all we need is love. . .God's love.
Love on,
Mike
Comments
I too say, AMEN!!!!!!
I pray erveryone could experience that kind of love. Thanks for sharing the love of God.
love you
MOM