The song is a classic; it’s timeless, catchy and memorable. One of the Beatles’ most popular songs conveyed a simple, yet powerful message: “Love is all you need.” The moving melody and clever lyrics inspire people to this day, generating feelings of hope and comfort. The question is posed, however… Is love really all you need? Most people that I’ve spoken to almost immediately say “no,” accompanying that “no” with a list of things such as shelter, food and intellect. While some of these things are necessities to survive physically, do any of them make life worth living if devoid of love?
The dictionary has fourteen definitions of love as a noun and another six as a verb. The first definition is “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.” While that seems to be the basic understanding of what love is, many people have their own idea of love and others find it to be something that can’t be defined by any one person. Another definition is actually the tennis term, stating it as “a score of zero; nothing.” Now, people with a more cynical disposition on love may find this to be the most accurate definition of the word even out of the tennis context.
As I stated, there are fourteen definitions for love in the dictionary. But there are at least six billion different definitions of the word because everyone has their own definition. In fact, most people have multiple definitions for love which is why phrases like “I love him, but I don’t like him” and “I would never want to be with this person, but I still love them” pop up. From what I’ve gathered when I’ve heard those phrases, what people really mean when they say either is “I don’t particularly care for this person, but because I am related or connected to them in some way, I am morally obligated to feign a form of affinity towards them” or “Although this person has committed too many negative acts for me to remain with them intimately, I still care for them because they have had a significant impact on my life.” When rearranged to their true meanings, neither of us those really describe love.
Somebody might ask, then, what is my definition of love? Well, the concept is a confusing one to me as well, but one that I feel is perfectly defined in the Bible, which is the dictionary for the soul. It is in a chapter of Corinthians that is dedicated almost exclusively to love and defining just what it is, once and for all.
1 Corinthians 13:3-8. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
A truly incredible stretch of scripture and is many a Christian’s favorite area of the Bible. It is, however, in its powerful message, quite lofty. Many people may think while reading that scripture: “Well, sure, THAT kind of love is all I need, but that’s completely unattainable and unrealistic.” While it’s true that if you are expecting to find this love perfectly exacted in another person, you are bound to be disappointed.
God, however, is that love. He is all you need. And when you choose to follow, if earnest in your pursuit of His truth, He begins to educate you on that love. So, then, you will be able to love more closely to the universal and unconditional way that God does. We may want that kind of love for ourselves in another human as well, but as stated, love is not self-seeking. It is not foremost something to get, but something to give.
When you strive to give love unconditionally, you surround yourself with love. When you follow the words written in 1 Corinthians, you will have everything you need. However, people can think that because when people are in love or love each other and things go wrong, that the problem lies within love. The problem is not with love, it’s with people. Love never fails, but people can fail to love.
Accepting God’s love is all one needs, and when humans treat each other lovingly, it is simply a further extension of God’s love and thus an addition to the ultimate need. So, advertently or not, The Beatles were right — All you need is love. (Dum Dum DuhDuhDum)
-CSL
Posted by colinsays 
