All You Need Is Love

All You Need Is Love

This picture was taken down the street from my Sunnyside apartment in NY. Right off the 7 train at Queens Blvd and 46th street. I loved that place. I loved that apartment.

I visited my old stop a year or so after I moved and this mural had been painted over what used to be a very ugly, blank cement wall on the side of a super sketch “mart” of some sort.

All you need is love.

I do not know if the artist knows how true that statement is - or if he is just a Beatles fan - but we know how true it is. This week we are finishing a series in Branch Kids At Home about our choices and how they matter. My choices matter. Your choices matter. The big ones and the little ones. They either point to what Jesus is all about, or they don’t.

Jesus taught us to love God and love others. They point to love …. Or they don’t.

 All we need is love.

This week I have been very aware of the ways I am falling short of loving God and loving others. I will be honest, I am tired. I feel extremely behind - like I am running a race but don’t know where the finish line is. But also like I am failing. Do you relate? But then I remember, all we need is love.1 John 4 tells us God is love.

All we need is God.

So lean in with me, make time to sit in His presence. Make the choice to tell Him everything - write it down or say it out loud. Pray protection over your heart and mind against the enemy’s lies and schemes. Make time for REST. Call the friend that points you to Jesus and be honest about the fears and struggles and all the ways you feel you are failing. Ask them to pray for you and with you. If you need a friend, call me.

This passage from Hebrews is my go-to right now and I invite you to join me in writing it out and reading it every day - maybe several times a day:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3

I do not have to have all the answers, I do not have to do everything “right” - I can’t.

All I need is love.

And so, I will fix my eyes on Jesus. I will step out of the boat and I will keep going and I will not lose heart. Because He who calls me is faithful. He will surely do it. (1 Thes 5:14)
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