All You Need is Love: Learning to Rely on God’s Unfailing Love

In 1967, The Beatles released their iconic song “All You Need is Love.”  They were making a declaration for peace and harmony in a time of great social upheaval, racial conflict, and political unrest.  I think we can relate!  King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes “There is nothing new under the sun.”  The Beatles’ song still rings true: All you need is love!  By my count – and I apologize if I missed any — the word love is repeated 95 times in this song of less than 4 minutes!  And the phrase “Love is all you need” is echoed back and forth 49 times!!  

What if we repeated that phrase to ourselves 49 times each day?!  Love is all you need.  Love is all you need.  Love is all you need.  Would we begin to understand this truth?  Would we see that often we are running after things to fill our lives, or to fix our problems, or to dull our pain when really, love – God’s love – is all we need? 

The theme of God’s love runs throughout the pages of scripture.  Depending on what Bible translation you turn to, the very word “love” is repeated hundreds and hundreds of times.  I’ve started drawing a little heart around the word love every time I come across it in my Bible reading.  Some passages are just full of little hearts as God speaks through His Word about His loving intentions for us and His loving kindness toward us.  His love for all people is a major theme reaching its climax through Jesus Christ.  

John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And 1 John 4:9 repeats this truth. “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.”

Let there be no doubt: God loves us.  He loves you.  And, at your deepest core, His love is all you need.   Because if you know and rely on His love, as 1 John 4:16 says, this will bring such alignment, stability, and peace into your life that you will be able to live through Him.  You will be settled by His love and able to face everything else that life brings to you. 

Verse 18 even says that His perfect love drives out all fear.  Don’t we all need a remedy for fear these days?  We have it!  It’s knowing and relying on God’s love for us!  

I know it sounds simple, maybe too good to be true.  But let’s not overcomplicate things.  It doesn’t have to be complicated to be real.  God loves you, and His love is the most powerful force in the universe.  

And so, I echo Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3 for you, Dear One: 

“For this reason I kneel before the Father … And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  (Ephesians 3:14, 17-19)

This is my prayer for you, and this is God’s heart for you. He made sure to write it in His Word so you wouldn’t miss it!  All you need is love – His love – and with that, you will have all you need!