The Answer is Love

Our world is falling apart. Every day the headlines scream of more hate and crime and devastation. And prophecy dictates the end times will be like a woman in travail. The labour pains will get closer and closer together, and increasingly more difficult.

This Wednesday, two students were stabbed at a restaurant near their high school. My grandson was in the building at the time of the commotion. On Thursday, a student in Toronto was shot while exiting the school during his lunch hour. The week before, a bus driver drove his bus directly into a day care, killing two children.

How do we get through these perilous times? How do we keep our children and grandchildren safe? How do we remain calm and reassured that our children are safe at their schools and daycares?

Our initial response stems from our fight-or-flight mechanism. We either want to get angry at the situation and fight back, or run away and hide in the woods. But are either of these responses the solution?

I think Hal David and Burt Bacharach had the answer. “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Hal David wrote the lyrics and Burt Bacharach composed the music in the 1960s, but the words are more prevalent today than ever.

The world needs more love. More love to heal the wounds. More love to soothe the anger. More love to right the wrong. More love to overpower the hate. More love to silence the fear.

Let’s spread more love as we go about our daily lives. Let’s pour love on everyone we meet; whether our family, our neighbour, or the stranger on the street.

And spreading love has a domino effect. The more love we spread, the more love others spread around us.

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Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

- Romans 12:9-21