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What the world needs now is love. I think I could turn that into a song. Wait… it’s already been done? What?!? Oh man… another great idea already taken by someone else. In fact, this was a hit song written by Hal David, and recorded by in 1965. Here are the lyrics…
(Chorus) What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some but for everyone Lord we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last until the end of time Chorus Lord, we don't need another meadow There are corn fields and wheat fields enough to grow There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine Oh listen Lord, if You want to know Chorus In the book “Chicken Soup For The Soul”, David talked about how the lyrics to this song came about… “One day, I thought of the first two lines of this song: 'What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of.' Before I got to Manhattan I had the rest of the chorus set the way it is today. Then I needed the verse section. When I began to write the first verse, everything I thought about just seemed off: We don't need a plane to fly faster, we don't need a submarine to go deeper. I tried and tried, showed it to Burt, then put it away and went on to something else. In a month or two or three, I tried again. It was always the same thing. I needed something to compare it to and everything I thought about had nothing to do with the person I was talking to – God. It took more time to write these lyrics than any other. I realized that I needed to write the antithesis – what we didn't need. One day on the ride to New York, it came to me. 'Lord, we don't need another mountain, There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb, There are oceans and rivers enough to cross, Enough to last till the end of time.' I knew that was it. I wrote about all of the things that had to do with nature and what God gives us.” So how cool is that? A song written 2 years before the ‘Summer Of Love’ was a prayer to God to give us more love. I like it. Unfortunately we know that much of the ‘love’ birthed in the 1960s was not of God. It was often more lust than love. But Hal David tapped into something very spiritual. God is creative, and has given us some spectacular things. We as humans are given the ability to love. But we don’t have an inexhaustible reserve within us. We must get love from somewhere else. And God is the source of love. Interestingly enough, Jesus before leaving His disciples touched on this very topic. Here is what He told them in a very intimate conversation… “As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father. You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is what I command you: Love one another.” (John 15:9-17) Jesus says that there is a correlation between obedience and love. He modeled that in His relationship with the Father. Too many people want the love of God, but they don’t want to obey God. Within this conversation He also says one of the great quotes of all time, “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus then calls them His friends… if they do what He has commanded. His greatest command is love. Love God, and love others. Today we get to live out the greatest command of God. Love people today. They need it. The whole world needs it. There’s just not enough of it. Don’t just love some people… love everyone. God is loving this world, and He is doing it through His friends. Enjoy. There's more where that came from. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
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