The World Needs Christ's Love
In 1965, sixty years ago, the song “What the World Needs Now Is Love” spread across the United States. Our nation was exhausted by war, global unrest, domestic tensions, and racial and gender disparities. (I wish this didn’t sound quite so familiar.) So the song’s message—all the world needs is “love, sweet love”—resonated.
As this song rose in popularity, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was issuing a radical call to the soul of a broken nation to become the “Beloved Community” through a commitment to justice and love. Love was central to King’s theology, and it cost him his life. Only three years after “What the World Needs Now Is Love” topped the nation’s charts, this great Civil Rights leader was assassinated. While the world sang about love, Reverend King died for it.
I point out this contrast to remind us: love does not always come easy. Love is inconvenient. Love is costly. We can’t just sing about it; we have to do something about it.
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This is evident in the life of Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God to be used to his own advantage; rather…he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death” (Philippians 2:6-8, NIV).
As we enter this new year, I believe we are living in a moment in history in which we, as believers, must keep our hearts grounded in love. If we are to carry Christ to everyone, everywhere, it will only be by and for love. I am extending an invitation to the beloved Every Home community—including you—to spend 2025 focused on love. And not just a love we sing about, but a love we’re willing to give our lives to, for the life of the world.
Thank you for joining us.
