Years ago Dionne Warwick had a big hit with a song written by Burt Bacharach, “What The World Needs Now Is Love.” Bacharach was right. What we all need is love.
We all want people in our lives who care for us, who support us and are there for us in our time of need. We need people who are thinking about us, and about how they can encourage us and build us up instead of tearing us down; people who will protect us and defend us when others criticize or judge us.
But how do we attract that kind of love?
- It won’t be by having more money than anyone else … that just attracts jealousy.
- It won’t be by rising up the corporate ladder … that just attracts competition for your position.
- It won’t be by wearing the most chic clothes and having on the most perfect makeup … that just attracts spiteful criticism behind your back.
The Bible offers a much better answer than those:
1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV) And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
As this verse makes clear, being loved is not about me getting others to love me, but about me setting myself to love others. It’s our mutual love for one another that will cover faults, failures, and shortcomings with the balm of charity.
If I set out to attract love from others, I may well be seen as more manipulative than loving; that strategy almost always fails. But when I set myself to demonstrate love for the people in my life, even (or especially) in the times when they irritate me, I’ll find that love eventually begets love.
Ron Franklin
