The Kind of Love the World Needs More Of!

      Few people have not been exposed to the words of Jesus found in John 3:16 – ^"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." The manger where Christ was born and cross here He died both stand as tangible proof God loves us. Scripture, human experience, and social science research all testify to an innate human need to be loved. In 1965 Jackie DeShannon sang, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of . . . not just for some but for everyone." It’s a beautiful song, and nobody paying attention to the things going on in our homes and schools and communities can deny the world needs more love. But we must be careful how we define the love the world needs more of. For the raw, naked, unvarnished truth is millions of people mistake lust for love, and it is beyond that debate a lot of lust is loose in the world. 

Trace Adkins told how many people feel and act about love back in 1997 when he said in a country song with catchy-lines, "This ain’t no thinkin’ thing, right brain, left brain, It goes a little deeper than that. It’s a chemical, physical, emotional devotion, passion that we can’t hold back . . . Gray matter don’t much matter, darlin’, when it’s getting down to you and me." It’s pretty clear a lot of people are being guided by something besides their brains when it comes to love. As someone said, "Brains are what a man looks for in a wife after not using any in selecting one" (or vice-versa, of course). The recent flood of sexual harassment allegations against some very powerful and prominent people in our culture reveal what happens when people practice lust, not love. Meanwhile the Bible goes on telling us we should "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). And, "love does no harm to a neighbor" (Romans 13:10). These words come on the heels of quotations from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 that the commands to not commit adultery, not murder, not steal, not bear false witness, and not covet are all "summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ " (quoting Leviticus 19:18). So it is – the world needed more love long before DeShannon sang about it in 1965!

The world indeed needs more love. Real love. Love that includes affection and deep feeling – but is not limited to mere feelings and emotions. Love that is defined by what it wants to give, not driven by what it can get. Love that feels, but is then acted out – not selfishly, but selflessly. Love that stays for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth. Love that acts in behalf of the one/ones loved. Love that is willing, if need be, to "suffer long" (1 Corinthians 13:4a). Love like the kind we read about in Romans 8:32 – "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Eight year-old Rebecca teaches us about love. When asked to define love, she replied, "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her, even when his hands got arthritis, too. That’s love." Yes, Rebecca, it is. That’s the kind of love the world needs more of. Think about it. 

        By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN