All We Need Is Love
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” I Corinthians 13:13
The following is a repost of a blog that I wrote five years ago and published over two years ago. I deleted it about a year ago, but I thought it might be good to repost it because, as the title above taken from an old Beatles song says, “All we need is love” especially now in these days of hardships, confusion, the pandemic, not knowing whether our leaders are being truthful, and the uncertainty about the future. Of course, the future has always been uncertain in this mixed up world in which we live, but 2020 has been unlike any other year at least in my memory. There have been plenty of other years of tough times, but not exactly like this one.
This blog presents my thoughts on I Corinthians 13, known as the “love chapter” in the New Testament, written in modern day vernacular. All of scripture is about love, about the love that God has for His creation in sending His only Son to die for our sins, the greatest love that has ever been shown to mankind. God requires us to love others, to “love our neighbors as ourselves”, a command by God which is in both the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18) and the New Testament, admonished several times by Jesus in three of the gospels, by the Apostle Paul in Galatians and Romans, and by James:
“Even though I speak as a human, but without love, whatever I say only amounts to a hill of beans. Even though I might be smart as a whip, and my faith is strong enough to move mountains, if I don’t have love, then what does it matter? Even if I give away all that I have and even take a bullet for another, without love, it has no meaning. Love puts up with a lot. It is not mean and vindictive. Love doesn’t get jealous when others are blessed. Love doesn’t try to be something it is not nor does it ride a high horse. It doesn’t do things that would embarrass or shame others nor does it demand to have its own way.
“Love doesn’t have a chip on its shoulder nor does it look for the worst in folks. It is disgusted with sin and delighted with what is true and just. Love doesn’t count the cost of what it means to love. It just believes that everything will work out for the best. Love relies on hope and is the solution, not part of the problem. Love cannot fail. Everything else that we rely on will eventually fade away or fail, but not love. We can’t see the big picture now. All we know now is what has been revealed to us, but when Christ comes, everything will be clear as a bell.
“When I was a little child, there was so much that I didn’t know. My childhood innocence was left behind as I grew. What I thought I knew, I didn’t really know. There is still a lot to learn, but one day all will be revealed. I will be able to see myself as God sees me now, and loves me anyway. Faith brings redemption. Hope brings joy. And love gives it all meaning.”
This chapter reveals to us that when Jesus returns, a lot of questions will be answered. What we didn’t understand will be made clear. The church body will be perfect for Christ has made the church perfect by His sacrifice, and by perfection is the only way that God will accept us (Matthew 5:48). All of the unimportant things will be gone, and we will bask in the love, goodness, and mercy of God forever.