“A Life Talk Devotion” – 09/12/2023
In their 1967 hit song “All You Need Is Love”, the Beatles expressed an instinctive human need that resonated with people worldwide. The basic message catapulted the song to number one riding the charts for 11 straight weeks. Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager said of the song: “It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the world a message. The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything.”
The song was wildly popular because each one of us has an innate yearning to be loved and to relish that love. That longing captivates our heart and motivates us, even unwittingly, we seek love like water finds its natural path while many times in ‘all the wrong places’.
Generally, our understanding of love is shaped by the culture and people around us which tends to be a conditional form of love taking on the persona of the society at large. If you look a certain way, perform according to expectation, or say the ‘right’ things, they will love you. In other words, it is a “tit for tat” qualified love. We mistakenly attribute this same type of love to God believing we have to perform within certain religious boundaries to garner His love.
Even further, our perception of God’s love for us is often based on how we feel about ourselves. If we get up in the morning and take a look in the mirror, we may not like that person looking back at us. And one of the natural progressions that follows is “if I don’t like who I am, how can others love me”, and of course “how can God love me?”. But God’s love is not subject to the ups and downs of a bad day or hormonal peaks and valleys. His love is constant and consistent because He is love and the author of love.
It was not until I began to read the Bible that I saw a different picture of love; not just God’s love for me but also how I am to love others. The Gospel of John defines a love and a relationship with God that is not based on religious practice, rituals, traditions or even how I look. It is an unconditional radical love that Jesus invites all of us to accept and receive.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10
The Beatles hit, however poignant, failed to tell the listener how to find the real love we all need. But God tells us how and has demonstrated His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us (Romans 5:06-10). This is the authentic message of love and what God wants us to know. Each one of us is unique and valuable in His eyes whereby He relentlessly pursues us, calling us to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. For He is the full expression and power of God’s love in that He bore my sins and yours on the cross taking the full weight of our sin and guilt.
In writing “All You Need Is Love”, John Lennon recognized not only the universal human need to be loved but was possibly expressing his own heart’s longing. The true satisfaction for the heart is to know the love of God. And God calls all of us to receive His love through Jesus Christ (Yeshua) as Redeemer and Savior. The Redeemer’s love is what we all need.
If you desire to know God’s love through a relationship with Jesus Christ – Check out this page.
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