In 1967, the Beatles recorded and released the song, “All You Need is Love”. The lyrics promoted the power of love when everything else failed. Their message: everything could be overcome if you had love.
In Search of LOVE!
Fast forward to 2021 and we find that people are still in search of love. Not the fleeting passion of a relationship or the feeling you get from your favorite food or activity, but the deep abiding peace and knowledge that come what may, they are loved. No strings attached. No behavior expectations. Just love. Children look for it in their parents. Single people are looking for it on dating sites. Married people are looking for it in their spouses. Yet in our broken society, many come up empty and disappointed while the search continues.
In Luke, chapter 15, Jesus tells a parable about a man who had two sons.
The younger son, tired of living in his older brother’s shadow and always coming up short (my interpretation of the story) goes to his father and asks for his share of the property. The father divided up the property between the two sons, giving the younger son his share.
A few days later, the younger son gathered up his possessions and went to another country where he “squandered his money on reckless living”. Clearly, this man was looking for something or someone to love him and make him feel worthwhile.
The parable goes on to say that when he had spent everything he had, a severe famine hit the country and since he was broke, he found himself homeless and hungry. Being desperate, (because after all, you’d have to be desperate to take this job), he hired himself out to feed pigs for one of the area’s landowners. To make matters worse, he was so hungry that he found himself eating the pig’s food.
When he had reached this lowest point, I can only imagine that he thought back to life at his Father’s home and realized that while things weren’t perfect, they were definitely better than where he was now. I love verse 17 – where it says, “he came to himself”. Talk about an “aha!” moment.
He got up, dusted himself off, and headed home.
What he didn’t know was that his Father loved him and was waiting for his return. Verse 20 tells us that “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Did his Father only realize the depth of his love for his son after he left home? Or, is it possible that the Father always loved his son and the son didn’t recognize it?
My vote is for the second option.
If you keep reading the passage, you see that the eldest son has a bit of an attitude about the brother’s return. You see him playing the “you love him more than me” card to his father. In spite of the conflict, the Father, very gently, reminds the older son of his love; “you are always with me and all that is mine is yours.” In other words, “I love you. No one is going to take your place. This is your home. I will always provide for you and take care of you.”
Which son are you today?
Are you the one going out and looking for love and acceptance or, are you the son who under a feeling of obligation stays at home feeling trapped and unappreciated?
Both sons were searching for something, but what neither recognized was that it was right in front of them. They were blinded by sibling rivalry, jealousy, resentment, and possibly discontentment. Because of these feelings, they missed the most important thing of all, their Father’s unconditional love.
Romans 5:8 tells us that “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Please take in the truth of that statement. God demonstrated his love for us by sending Jesus to the cross. We can never earn that kind of unmerited love – not by our good behavior or kind acts towards others. God loves us simply because we are his children. And it just gets better. Not only are we not able to earn God’s love, nothing we do can take it away.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
For some reason, this kind of love is nearly impossible for us to grasp. Paul recognized this challenge in the early church at Ephesus. In Ephesians 3:18-21, he writes,
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
How wide, how long, how high, and how deep?
For those who need the specific measurements – just refer to the cross. John 15:13 reminds us that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Whether you have been in church your whole life or have never made that all-important step towards Jesus, God loves you. And, like every good father, God wants his children to have an abundant life.
The two brothers had that abundant life at their fingertips. One simply let the daily life rob him of seeing the abundance, while the other son thought an even better life was out there waiting to be discovered.
Today, I challenge you to lean into God’s embrace and ask Him to open your eyes and heart to His all-consuming, never-ending love. Rest in it. Let it surround you. Lay down the lies of the enemy that this is something you have to work for. Just receive it. All you will ever need can be found in the Love of God.
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