All We Need?

The Beatles said “All you need is love,” and then they broke up. (Larry Norman, Reader’s Digest on the 1972 album Only Visiting This Planet).

We just spent time discussing “speaking the truth in love” and the difficulty that presents. One commenter noted it didn’t mean “always speaking in meek and soft ways.” Another called it “complex.” Whatever it is, it is a command and, therefore, important.

As it turns out, love itself is important. All the law and prophets depend on love (Matt 22:37-40). Love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14). The two commands, love the Lord you God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, are the two highest commands (Matt 22:37-40). It’s important.

Paul wrote that if we are gifted in all the best possible gifts and don’t have love we’re worse than “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal”—we are nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3). It’s important.

Jesus commanded His disciples to “love one another: just as I have loved you” and then said it was the hallmark of being His disciple (John 13:34-35). It’s important.

John warned, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). It’s important.

But we don’t seem to grasp biblical love. I know I’ve written about it before, but it seems as if we’re constantly nodding our heads and saying, “Yes, that’s what it is,” and then walking away and forgetting. We know it’s not the world’s definition—a feeling of warm affection—if it’s a command because you can’t command a feeling. It’s a choice. Only a choice can be commanded.

Paul explains exactly what he means in that 1 Corinthians 13 reference. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:4-8). That is not a warm feeling. It is not predicated on the loved one. We don’t love because they deserve it. Jesus said we were to love our enemies (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:26, 35). And He practiced it by dying for sinners (Rom 5:8-10).

In the end, biblical love is neither sentiment nor softness but the steady, self-giving resolve to seek another’s good in obedience to God. It is the shape of Christ’s own life, the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us, and the fulfillment of everything God has ever commanded. When we speak truth in love, act in love, endure in love, and sacrifice in love, we are not merely performing a virtue — we are reflecting the very heart of God. And without that love, all our gifts, insights, and efforts collapse into noise. With it, we walk in the life for which we were redeemed.