Yesterday I published a blog post on my main blog titled, “Love Is…”. It opens with the description of love found in I Corinthians 13. Verses 4-8a (NIV) describes love as follows:
Love is patient,
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud.
It does not dishonor others,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
But rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
Always trusts,
Always hopes,
Always perseveres.
LOVE NEVER FAILS.
The verses in 1 Corinthians that follow these verses, found in verses 8-13 (NIV), state:
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The greatest theme throughout the Old Testament and New Testament is God’s love for humanity. And John 3:16-18 is the culmination of that love:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus Christ], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Our world is in desperate need of more love–not only the recognition of God’s love that God is very willing to pour out on us, but huge doses of love for each other, too. As I read those verses above, they brought to mind a song I remember from the mid-1960’s. This past week on February 8th, the composer of that song, Burt Bacharach, died at the age of 94. Bacharach was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music, and he composed hundreds of songs from the late 1950s, many with Hal David (source here).
It was in 1965 (I was 13 at the time) that one of his most popular songs was released and sung first by Jackie DeShannon in 1965, and then Dionne Warwick in 1966 (an updated version by Dionne Warwick posted on YouTube on March 25, 2019 is in the YouTube link below), and the song is titled, “What The World Needs Now”–lyrics by Hal David (1921-2012) and music composed by Burt Bacharach. Here are the lyrics to that song:
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 ’til the end of time.
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 meadow.
There are cornfields and wheatfields enough to grow.
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine.
Oh listen, Lord, if you want to know.
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, oh, but just for
Every, every, everyone.
(Lyrics source here.)
This song was composed when America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was escalated under LBJ in 1965 (in fact, that war did not end until a decade later with the fall of Saigon in 1975). Wikipedia provides the following information on the background of the song:
Co-songwriter Burt Bacharach revealed in his 2014 autobiography that this song had among the most difficult lyrics Hal David ever wrote, despite being deceptively simple as a pop hit. He explained that they had the main melody and chorus written back in 1962, centering on a waltz tempo, but it took another two years for David to finally come up with the lyric, “Lord, we don’t need another mountain.” Once David worked out the verses, Bacharach said the song essentially “wrote itself” and they finished it in a day or two.
The song’s success caught the two songwriters completely by surprise, since they were very aware of the controversy and disagreements among Americans about the Vietnam War, which was the subtext for David’s lyrics. Bacharach has continuously used the song as the intro and finale for most of his live concert appearances well into the 2000s. (Quote source here.)
I remember the upheaval and unrest over the Vietnam War during my teens and early 20’s when the fall of Saigon in 1975 ended that 20-year conflict (1955-1975), and the Communists took over the country. It was the most unpopular war in U.S. history until the Afghanistan War, which also lasted two decades (2001-2021), and the Taliban is now in control of that country. America lost out in both wars at a great cost both financially and in casualties especially in Vietnam (58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties in Vietnam, and 2,456 U.S. military deaths, and 20,752 wounded in action in Afghanistan). In fact, America has not won a war since the ending of World War II in 1945 (see this link). Both wars (Vietnam and Afghanistan) and the numerous smaller conflicts since WW II (Korean War, Panama, Gulf War, etc.–see a list of wars going back to the 1800’s involving the United States at this link) remind me of what Jesus stated about “wars and rumors of wars” in Matthew 24:6-13:
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Everything that Jesus stated above is very much a part of our world today including “the love of most will grow cold.” The words to this song composed in 1965 are poignant, and one can almost feel a weariness of the soul and a longing for more love to be found in the world with references to the Lord for his help (something not often found in popular secular songs back then or now). And it is a song that is still very much in tune with our times today.
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love”… (those words were composed in that song 58 years ago). And the world today needs love now more than ever. I know of only one place to find it… in the Bible. But the Bible, despite the fact that zillions of copies are still available in our world today, is becoming increasingly unpopular in the broader culture and the world at large (hence, “the love of most will grow cold”), and it is growing colder every day. A zillion copies of the Bible is no good if nobody is reading it on a regular basis (and not just on Sunday for those who are still attending church or who claim to believe). And the Bible is hardly antiquated, and it “is the fresh and ever-living voice of God, that through these words [all of the Bible] God wants to talk to us” (quote source here).
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus Christ], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. —John 3:16-17
That invitation is still open.
I’ll end this post with the lyrics at the end of the song, “What The World Needs Now.” 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…
Every . . .
Every . . .
Everyone . . . .
YouTube Video: “What The World Needs Now” sung by Dionne Warwick (posted on YouTube on March 25, 2019)–music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David (1965):
Photo #1 credit here
Photo #2 credit here
Photo #3 credit here
Sara's Reflections 