The following post is in response to the Civitas Press Syncroblog request on a book that I had the honor of contributing to called The Practice of Love: real stories of living into the kingdom of god.  If you are interested, you can read more responses to this syncroblog by some of the other contributors to the book simply by referring to the links at the end of this post. ******************************************************************************

“Nothing you can make that can't be made. No one you can save that can't be saved. Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. It's easy. All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.”  (Beatles – All You Need is Love) ”We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (I John 4: 6-8)

So let me get this straight.  All we need is love?  Truth=Love and God is Love?  The spirit of falsehood = those who don’t love?  I mean correct me if I am wrong here. The Bible seems to tell us that if we get this one thing right, we are really on to something.  Some have called this something the secret message of Jesus. Some have called it a misnomer to the real truth which somehow is described in great detail through systematic theology (fully supported by the Bible) and other theological takes on the good book. When asked by a religious scholar what Jesus considered the most important commandment to be, Jesus said this,

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

Jesus spends a great deal talking about what that love actually looks like.  He uses words and phrases like sacrifice, laying down one’s life, carrying a load twice as far if not more, cheek-turning, coat giving, loving enemies as well as friends, giving to those that ask, not being angry at others, not having malice towards one another, not lusting for one another, and more. The Beatles are telling us in this small stanza that there is really no need to devote all your time in making things or trying to gain success by the work of your hands, nor must you devote your life in trying to figure people out so that you can “save” them, which would imply that you are placing yourself above these “needy” folks so you can then save them and get all the glory for it. Similarly, we can spend so much time trying to be someone else and trying to put up a good front we miss out on the power of love.  The Beatles suggest just, being yourself, and loving others in that special way that is you.  In the end we actually learn how to be ourselves better, and we find that it really is easy. Ultimately what it comes down to; what the lyricist and the Bible seem to agree on is that “all you need is love.”  We need to love other folks and place loving others above personal success or even getting people “saved,” maybe even above our self.  Because really, loving others is the second greatest thing you can do, and if God is love, the very idea of loving others is in a sense saving them. Because by loving others we are then bestowing God upon them in waves.  So, we cannot go wrong by simply loving others. Recently I was asked to participate in a book idea that would lump together 40 different writers, with as many stories and essays.  The Practice of Love started out as a very simple request. Write your love stories We were asked to write stories about loving God, loving our neighbor, loving our enemies and loving ourselves.  The task seemed huge, but with the incredible organization skills of Mr. Jonathan Brink we actually managed to pull it off in record time.  The book was published and is currently for sale. The book is broken up into the four sections and has a smattering of stories from a very diverse group of people.  In there you will read the stories of fallen pastors, jilted lovers, people rejected by the church, people experiencing love in ways that don’t seem like love, and others who could do without love at least for a little while. My story is a small piece about what it means to love people that are not used to being loved and how trying to establish boundaries is not always a successful venture.  Likewise I talk about the feelings of uselessness I felt at a point in time in our relationship.  I speak of love not as the over dramatized version of it that is warm and gentle and feels terrific, but of a tired kind of love that is barely holding on – a love that feels more like work than anything pleasurable. I invite you to get the book and read all of the incredible stories in it and share it with friends and loved ones.  Good news is that this is just volume one.  That means that there will be a sequel.  So be looking for volume two as well to come out in a year or so (June 2012), if everything goes as planned.   Click on the image below to go to Amazon.com and buy the paperback version.  If you would like the Kindle version, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Love-Stories-Kingdom-ebook/dp/B004Y1N152  ********************************************************************** Read more about the book and the other folks who contributed to it by visiting their blogs below: Kathy Escobar: Loving God by Loving People Anna Snoeyenbos:The Practice of Love: Real Stories of Living into the Kingdom of God Idelette McVicker: Loving Myself, A Woman Marian Struble: Practicing Love Jake Kampe: The Practice of Love Jeremy Myers: Grilling Your Enemies Kara Maddox: The Practice of Love Reflections Alise Wright: The Practice of Love Ray Carroll: The Practice of Love Naomi King: Love God