"All you need is love..."

"Love is all you need..." - The Beatles, "All You Need Is Love"


Woke up this morning wondering what I would note about when the subject of love popped into my head. We often overuse the phrase "love" that kind of takes away its wonder and beauty. "Oh I LOVE this handbag" or "Don't you just LOVE that car" really brings the concept down to almost a carnal nature. Love is a gift, love is most important. If you do not love, life is not worth living. I remember last week's episode of "The Biggest Loser" when the group were gathered around learning from eachother. One of the Tongan brothers spoke of the previous season where Filipe (another Tongan) had his big makeover reveal and how his wife looked at him. He said, wiping tears from his eyes, that he wanted what Filipe had - a woman that loved him deeply. Many of the other contestants concurred that they wanted someone to love and to have someone love them.

Love is important, love from someone else is a gift that is like no other. I am so thankful that I found someone that loves me and cares for me as much as I care for her. I would want to say that I am lucky, but blessed is probably a better term. The apostle Paul laid out how important love is:

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, 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. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Cor 13:1-13, NIV

John also lays out for us the importance of love:

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. " Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." - 1 Jo 3:16-23, NIV

Having it all except love is meaningless. Money can't buy love, maybe lust or favor for a time, but not love...

Much love to you all from my heart, my friends. Much love...

MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com