All you need is love ..
By Julia Fowler, Worship Arts Pastor
Text: I John 4:15-17 "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him."
"All you need is love" rum bu dumb ba dumb … anytime I hear someone say that phrase my shoulders automatically start buncing and my body swaying. There's something about the little melodious horn line that follows the chorus words that makes me respond in this silly way. Even the great John Lennon said "it's easy" … "love is all you need". I'm not sure if he realized how true those words really were and still are.
All that we need is found in Jesus Christ and His word tells us that He not only encompasses the very nature of what love is but that in fact he IS love itself. So the only way we can understand love or give love is if in fact love (Christ) lives and loves through us. I think a lot of people get hung up here because we agree with this thought and then disclaimer our failure to love perfectly as failure to be Christlike. I don't think this is the case. It's true Christ lived a sinless life and we unfortunately have sinned and are probably going to again. But being like Christ in this life, for us, is simply staying actively engaged in the process of becoming more and more like Him. Look, you know when you are 'checked out' mentally or emotionally from something - and this is not talking about momentary forgetfulness - this is a willful act on your part to basically withdraw from the process of interacting personally with Christ. For me this active engagement has taken on many forms. There are times when I am white hot in love with my Lord and it shows in everything I do. There are other times when things happen and I get distracted or I question Him about this or that. In those times I may not "feel" so loving towards Him and yet I can't stop actively engaging in my relationship with Him.
The author of I John tells us that we can be confident on the day of judgment because in this world we ARE like him. Wow! That's amazing. He's telling us right there that because Christ lives in us and when the father looks at us he sees a reflection of Himself. This should give us the confidence we need to stay actively engaged in our relationship with Christ.
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